Re: lsass.exe system error not cleared by Repair Installation

Rock wrote:
"Richard J." <rjnews1130@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

I have a Toshiba M30X laptop running a non-OEM XP Home SP2. On
switching on yesterday I got the message about
\windows\system32\config\system being missing or corrupt,
indicating a corrupted registry. I followed Part 1 of the
Microsoft advice in KB 307545 to recover from the corrupted
registry using the Recovery Console, but on booting up Windows in
safe mode to start part 2 of the advice, I got an lsass.exe system
error: "When trying to update a password, the return status
indicates that the value provided for the current password is not
correct." Further use of the Recovery Console was not possible, as
it called for an Admin password which I had never set up (and
blank didn't work). I therefore tried to do a Repair Installation from the XP CD-ROM,
but this also gives the lsass.exe password error.

I know that lsass.exe can be hijacked by the Sasser worm, but I
can't believe it's that, as the symptoms seem different, and I was
running SP2, Zone Alarm firewall and a fully-updated AVG 7.5.

Can anyone suggest what I can do other than wiping the C: drive
and doing a full reinstallation of Windows XP, and other software
on C:? And if I do that, will any software that I have installed in a
second Program Files folder on the D: drive still work, or will I
have to reinstall it all from the CDs again? This is the second
time in 6 months that I've had the config\system file missing
problem, and it's a pain.

Sorry I don't have a specific resolution for your issue. One thing
to try is to reset the Administrator password using this utility:
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/editor.html

Since I couldn't get into Windows at all, I had no way of getting that utility on to the laptop. I therefore did a reinstall of XP Home on C: from the CD-ROM, then had problems installing SP2, but have now overcome that.

Yes if you did a clean install then all apps will have to be
reinstalled from their original media.

Some seem to be OK. It depends, I guess, whether they include any .dll files that they had stored on C:.

There are a couple of things to look at for the future. First here
is a KB article with info on how to troubleshoot registry
corruption issues. Something is causing this corruption in the
registry. It could be hardware or software.

How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=822705

Consider using ERUNT to make a backup of the registry on a daily
basis, keeping several iterations of it. If set up properly, the
registry can be easily restored from the recovery console from one
of these backups using a small utility that comes with ERUNT.

ERUNT
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt

Installing and Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

Lastly consider getting a drive imaging program such as Acronis
True Image Home, vs.. 10. This will make a compressed image of the
drives which can be stored on external media such as a USB drive or
CD/DVD. Restores can be done on a file basis or the whole drive. This allows for a quick means to recover to a previous working
state. It also does file backups. Check the prices on Newegg.com
for this. I have seen them fluctuate in the past month from a high
of USD $37 to a low of $27. The list is around $50 from Acronis.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Thanks very much for the advice -- very useful.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

.

Relevant Pages

  • RE: Registry Corruption
    ... Don't know about the "ACCESS DENIED" problem, but I am dealing with registry ... corruption myself right now and I have ... Recovery Console does not give you access to all files ... > Also, from the Recovery Console command prompt, the DIR command on the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: lsass.exe system error not cleared by Repair Installation
    ... I followed Part 1 of the Microsoft advice in KB 307545 to recover from the corrupted registry using the Recovery Console, but on booting up Windows in safe mode to start part 2 of the advice, I got an lsass.exe system error: "When trying to update a password, the return status indicates that the value provided for the current password is not correct." ... Further use of the Recovery Console was not possible, as it called for an Admin password which I had never set up. ... First here is a KB article with info on how to troubleshoot registry corruption issues. ... This will make a compressed image of the drives which can be stored on external media such as a USB drive or CD/DVD. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Some Registry Measurements
    ... control on it is why corruption can happen to it so easily. ... registry is even more exposed to corruption from the operating ... The system performs the following flush process for all hives: ... All changed data is written to the hive's .log file along with a map of where it is in the hive, and then a flush is performed on the .log file. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
    ... Isn't this the sort of thing that should NEVER happen in normal operation? ... > There are many reasons why a registry hive may be corrupted. ... > the corruption is introduced when the computer is shut down, ... > How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)
  • Re: STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
    ... Microsoft Partner Online Support ... |> There are many reasons why a registry hive may be corrupted. ... |> the corruption is introduced when the computer is shut down, ... |> How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment)