cannot login under safe mode

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From: Chris Bailey (ccb_at_perryballard.com)
Date: 01/13/05 

Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 18:46:13 -0500

Okay, this is genuinely weird. It's something I used to be able to do, so
I'm wondering if something recent (like Service Pack 2) has changed a
standard operating procedure.

I manage about two dozen Windows XP Pro stations here, all of which have
been upgraded to Service Pack 2. I keep things clean with Symantec Antivirus
Corporate Edition 9.1 and either SpyBot 1.3 or Ad-Aware SE 1.05. One
computer was still running Ad-Aware 6 and the definitions hadn't been
updated in a while -- he was getting some pop-up ads. So I upgraded him to
SE 1.05 and ran a check. It found and removed some things, then after
restarting it found them again. So I've got something a little insidious and
I figure I should startup in safe mode and run an Ad-Aware sweep to nuke it
that way.

Only when I boot up (in safe mode) and then attempt to login as
administrator to the local station, I get the error message "could not log
you on", as if I'm using the wrong password. The primary user for this
station is also considered an administrator, so I tried his username and
password and that fails too. Rebooting under normal mode allows me to login
to the network just fine. (I just realized I haven't tried rebooting in
normal mode *and* attempted to login to the local computer instead of the
network -- I'd try that now but his laptop is gone for the evening).

I had another station that I wanted to run a full antivirus sweep on (it
never got infected but found and removed a file so I just wanted to be
extra-paranoid and make sure the station was clean). I found I could not
login locally on this station either! I know I used to do this, and I used
to login as "administrator" with a specific password.

I don't know what's changed here. Maybe this is from a recent security
update, or it's a change in behavior with SP2 -- I don't know. Has any one
else run into this? Is there a way around it? Am I doing something wrong
(even though I can't fathom what that is?)

Thanks...

Chris Bailey
Saint Joseph, Michigan

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