Can not logon

I just performed a windows update on my brand new compaq laptop and after it completed it required me to reboot. When the system came back up it looks like it is trying to login in to my user automatically (as I had it configured) but just sits there.

Unfortunately I had does copied all my data to this system and not had a change to make a backup. The old system is not longer available.

I tried to rollback to the last good known configuration and it tells me that it has a problem with the registry file.

Safe boot did not work either.

I have tried the repair (system recovry) mode but it does not accept my administer password.

I tried to repar the windows install but that did not work eihter

All I really need is to find a way to get back my data and am willing to rebuild the system if required. I am looking to ways to find access to the drive to just get the data.

Could I create another partition and load a second copy to temporary get access to this data?

I am looking for suggests on how to proceed.

 

Yes you can create a new partition from unused space and load another copy of the OS. That will (if the drive isn't trashed somehow) give you access to all the files on there now.

Your best bet will be to get a copy of Partition Magic 8 to do the deed though. And you don't say but if you have the thing formatted NTFS on the problem partition, you need to make sure you load either 2K or XP on the new partition so you can see the old stuff.

 

Thansk for the help. I assume that partition magic runs from a boot floppy as I can not load it.

 

When the computer stops try using ctrl-alt-delete. I had this happen recently and after using the key combo the login screen appeared. I just clicked OK and it booted to windows. Haven't had a problem since. I had read this tip somewhere else on this board and it worked for me.

 

Are you running XP Pro or Home?

The phenomenon Zander described is a security feature that can be specified in Group Policy in Pro (to require Ctrl-Alt-Del for logon). I have had it enabled as well at random times after an upgrade and then had to disable it.

Hopefully, that is all it is and you won't need to do any other installation.

 

BTW they made it even easier to get to in XP than Group Policy.
Start / Control Panel / User Accounts then check the box enable quick logon.

It's greyed out if you are a member of a domain.