# [SOLVED] Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)



## LexiLuther (May 21, 2008)

And, now I can not log into Windows. Only can type password at the Welcome screen, it tries to go into Windows and then goes back to the Welcome screen with a message that it's "saving settings". 

I have tried to copy userinit.exe from my XP CD but no such luck. One of the steps asked "Overwrite userinit.exe (Yes/No/All)?". I chose Yes and it did not overwrite it onto my hard drive. 

I know the problem did not start from a virus because it happened right after I deleted userinit.exe in Safe Mode using AutoRuns. When I rebooted it did not log me into Windows. 

Does anyone have steps from A to Z on how to restore userinit.exe onto my pc so that I can at least log into Windows? I do not want to do a system restore or anything where I will lose all of my documents, pictures, music, or Outlook emails. 

Thanks!


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## LexiLuther (May 21, 2008)

*Re: Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)*

I have a Dell Dimension C521 AWD
I have Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
I have a Dell Resource CD


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## chauffeur2 (Feb 7, 2006)

*Re: Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)*

Hello LexiLuther, Welcome to TSF! :wave:

Boot into the "Safe Mode Menu" and try "Last known good configuration", and see if that works.

Kind Regards,


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

*Re: Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)*

Hi Lexi !

I'll copy paste the instructions I gave you in PM if another user encounters the same problem.

similar thread :
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f10/solved-userinit-exe-problems-197242.html



> If you read the warning at the beginning of this article you'll see that it shouldn't be tried on OEM installations. It proved to work on some Dell OEM installations but better backup all your personal stuff first.
> 
> First step is to recover the userinit.exe file. Boot on the XP CD and press 'R' to enter the recovery console. If prompted to, select your windows installation and enter the admin password (leave blank if none was set). From the command prompt type *copy d:\i386\userinit.ex_ c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe* where d is the volume letter corresponding to the XP CD (type *dir d:* to confirm this, else try dir e:, ... until you've found the right volume letter) . If you get an error message try *expand d:\i386\userinit.ex_ c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe*. Once you get the confirmation that the file has been copied (or that it already exists) proceed with the next steps.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure where the userinit.exe (or userinit.ex_) file is on a Dell CD, browse the CD with another computer to see where it's located (should be in the i386 folder) and use the instructions above in the recovery console to expand it to the c:\windows\system32\ folder. To check that the file has been copied correctly type *dir userinit.exe* from the c:\windows\system32\ folder (or dir c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe from any other location) and check that the file is listed. If you get some access denied error message when trying to copy the file with the recovery console then you'll have to hook your drive to another computer and copy the file within Windows. Using the copy or expand commands from the recovery console to copy a file from the i386 folder of the XP CD (the Dell CD should be recognized as an XP CD) will automatically unpack and rename the file to userinit.exe but within Windows you will have to type (start => run) *expand -r d:\i386\userinit.ex_ x:\windows\system32\userinit.exe* (replace d and x with the volume letters corresponding to the CD drive and your hard drive).

Once the userinit.exe file has been recovered it's only a matter of restoring the registry settings that were deleted by Autoruns (userinit.exe appears in the system and software hives).

Try pressing F8 at startup like chauffeur2 suggested. If the computer can already boot in safe mode try sfc /scannow which will restore some default registry settings.

If neither F8 nor safe mode worked then use the following steps from microsoft :
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting. That solution should only be tried on retail installations or on some Dell installations (which are not very different from retail XP installations). On other OEM installations you would have to backup your personal files and reinstall fom scratch using the recovery CD or partition.


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## LexiLuther (May 21, 2008)

*Re: Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)*



chauffeur2 said:


> Hello LexiLuther, Welcome to TSF! :wave:
> 
> Boot into the "Safe Mode Menu" and try "Last known good configuration", and see if that works.
> 
> Kind Regards,


Hello chauffeur2, :wave:

Thank you for the tip. That is one of the first things I did and it didn't work. Imagine that...:sigh:


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## LexiLuther (May 21, 2008)

*Re: Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)*



justpassingby said:


> Hi Lexi !


Hi JPB, :wave:

You've been so great in all of this. ray:

Your instructions probably would have worked for me. Actually, they did, it turned out to be the e: (drive) that got me the success in copying the file. However...

No such luck in getting into the Windows. I ended up giving up and asking a friend a to come help me. He has the pc now. He discovered that I did not have Windows XP Home Edition loaded on my computer which is the disk I was trying severely to boot from and copy userinit.exe. 

But, what I had was Windows XP Media Center loaded. :embarased We found the disk for that and he took that, the pc home to work on it. But, before doing that he copied all of my files and important items onto his external hard drive to be saved in case something went wrong. 

He told me he was able to do something using the WindowsXPMC disk but that another file appeared corrupted which was another problem altogether. We agreed the best thing was to do a full reinstall and as of today he is downloading all of the patches which he says will take a while but should be done by tonight. Then he'll copy my saved data onto the computer. 

I have more than one computer (I'm on the other one now) and so I had different versions of Windows on both. I will never know if I had tried the right Windows XP disk if it would have worked but I am grateful that it's finally getting fixed. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I am definitely less stressed. :laugh:


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

*Re: Userinit.exe (I mistakenly deleted file)*

Happy to know you solved the problem. When system files are missing a clean reinstall is often the faster/no-brainer solution. Even if it takes time to reinstall all the programs you're sure you won't go from one problem to another.

System files are different with different versions of Windows so you needed a Windows MCE disk. Did you find a Dell CD with XP MCE or did you use a retail XP MCE CD ? If you didn't get a Dell operating system or recovery CD with the computer you can order it from Dell, unlike other OEM CD's you can access the recovery console from it. Else there should be a recovery partition on the hard drive to reinstall the factory default installation (press ctrl+F11 at startup or look at the messages to know what key you need to press).

If your friend used the recovery partition or the CD that came with the Dell to reinstall then all is fine, but if he used a retail XP MCE CD then I'm not sure that your OEM product key will work with it. Try to activate Windows as soon as you can to find out.


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## LexiLuther (May 21, 2008)

Hello everyone, :wave:

I have my computer back now. :smile:

All is well and I am reinstalling Office, my anti-virus software, printer, Yahoo and running updates for those. 

Unfortunately, I lost all of my email. He saved all of the data based on what I told him but I thought I was using Outlook Express and I was using Office Outlook 2003 so when he recovered my data (in my presence) he recovered Outlook Express and of course he didn't realize my emails weren't there until after the clean wipe and reinstall. :sad:

I am so bad with knowing versions (like with XP HE vs MCE) and so it's my fault. I lost A LOT of information so to all who may have to do this please be sure you have the right versions of Outlook copied from your pc before wiping it clean. 

Everyone have a great day!!! :wave:


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## WannabeeTechie (Mar 30, 2009)

I just registered to thank justpassing by for posting the excerpt below:

I knew my userinit.exe file had been deleted and could get into the recovery mode, but I was soooo rusty with the commands. The excerpt below fixed my problem and I need to recover 2 papers asap (within 3 hours). (The only two not backed up to my external drive).

I've now bookmarked this site!!!!

Good luck everybody.....

First step is to recover the userinit.exe file. Boot on the XP CD and press 'R' to enter the recovery console. If prompted to, select your windows installation and enter the admin password (leave blank if none was set). From the command prompt type copy d:\i386\userinit.ex_ c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe where d is the volume letter corresponding to the XP CD (type dir d: to confirm this, else try dir e:, ... until you've found the right volume letter) . If you get an error message try expand d:\i386\userinit.ex_ c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe.


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## justpassingby (Mar 11, 2007)

Glad I could help :wave:


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## cabacha (Jan 29, 2008)

Hi Guys,

I have been following this thread and I am kind of in a similar situation. I deleted C:/Windows/System32/userinit.exe by mistake and also this registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\Userint

As soon as I login, my professinal XM logs me off. I logged into the recovery console using the BOOT CD and extracted userinit.exe to C:\Windows\system32 directory. I can do a "dir" and see this file is extracted fine. But I am still unable to login to my laptop.

1. My laptop was having XP SP3 but the Boot CD has XP SP2. So the extracted file is from SP2. Is that a problem?
2. I am not sure if the missing registry entry is creating a problem.
3. Is there any way, I can recover my personal data before attempting to repair the installation? From the recovery console, I am not able to access my personal folders. I also tried attaching a USB drive, but I did not work and I did not expect it to work anyways.
4. I called DELL Support and they said I should repair the Windows Installation but there is some chance that I may loose my data. He said he has never seen somebody loosing personal data by doing the repair but there is a chance. I am a bit uncomfortable doing a repair. Do U guys know if there is a good/bad/rare chance of loosing data?

5. I also have another laptop with XP SP3 Running on it. Is there anyway I can copy SP3 userinit.exe from that laptop to my laptop?


Thanks a lot for your help!!!


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