Welcome Screen won't come on..

Before anyone proceeds any further, I would like to advise that this problem seems to be a very complicated one. I don't think it's just a matter of going to the control panel and turning on the welcome screen.

I run Windows Xp Home Edition, and today, all of a sudden, the welcome screen was replaced with this smaller window that says "log in to windows" at the top. I have to type my user name and the password, instead of just clicking on my icon. The welcome screen was present beforehand.

I have tried numerous things. I have made sure that the box next to "Use the Welcome Screen" in "change the way users log on" in "user accounts" is checked. I have even tried disabling "use fast user switching ". I have downloaded XP_FixLogon, but when I ran it, it said that right msgina.dll file was being used and that there was no problem. I think there might be a problem in the registry, but I don't know what to modify and I don't want to try random things. Another possibility is that there might be a program that might be interfering with the logon screen, but probably not. I don't think it's because I have more than one account on the computer because it happened today, and I had this computer with another account for several years now. And the welcome screen always came up and I just clicked on my ID and I got into my computer. Please help. Thanks.

 

How about system restore?

 

Reply

Hello everyone. Ok, well.. the problem is still unsolved.

PeteC, the first link you gave was the registry configuration for the welcome screen. I followed the directions to "logontype ", but when I looked at its value, it was 1, meaning that the welcome screen was in use and not the classical version.

The second link you gave talked about awgina.dll and how Symantec's pcAnywhere can mess it up. Again I went to the registry, but when I looked for "ginadll" in "winlogon ", I couldn't find it. I even searched through the registry, but nothing came up.

The third link you gave talked about msgina.dll being replaced with a third party dll. It said to delete ginadll from the registry, which was the same solution as the second link. Still, I think this might be the best explanation as to why the welcome screen is not appearing. I have msgina.dll, but it might be replaced with another dll file of the same name. The problem is, I can't delete it from the folder "system32" because it says that the file is in use. I have downloaded a new msgina.dll file, but I'm stuck since I can't replace the file.

The final link you gave mentioned that if I have only one account on the computer that is not password protected, it will go directly to the desktop without showing the welcome screen. The problem is, I have two accounts on this computer and this has not changed for a long time. Also, I have a password on my account, as well as the other account. Finally, it doesn't go directly to my desktop, but it shows the classic log in screen, the small window that says "log on to windows" at the top and has fields for writing the user name and password.

Zander, well, I turned off system restore a long time ago. I forgot what or who, but something or someone said that it would help memory space or something so I turned it off. It probably would have worked if I had system restore on.

Thanks for all of your help. I think that progress has been made in the right direction. Thanks again!

 

If you think replacing the msgina.dll with the one you downloaded will work, here's one way to do it (and the way I prefer):

1. Go to Start>Run, type in "msconfig" (without the quotes), click OK
2. On the General tab, click the Expand File button
3. Type " msgina.dll" in the "File to restore field "
4. For the "Restore From" field, use the Browse button to navigate to where you put the downloaded msgina.dll
5. For the "Save File In" field, use the Browse button to navigate to the folder where you want the new msgina.dll file to go to replace the old
6. Click the Expand button

 

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\LogonType 0x1

Hrmm. All the UI does is set that key to enable it.

Check this location for this key, if its there, nuke it.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\explorer REG_DWORD NoWelcomeScreen

Before you go replacing files, lets just do a binary comparison on the version you have. From a command prompt: FC /b c:\windows\system32\gina.dll c:\downloadedfile\gina.dll This command will do a binary bit level comparision. If theres a delta, it will let you know.

My current working theory is that something has caused it to beleive that the 'welcome screen' applet isnt valid, so it reverts to classic logon behavior. Could be a form of spyware/virus, since its just a big HTA that runs, anything injecting itself in the wrong place could interfere. Run a full suite of scanning, adaware cwshredder, etc..
I'm not setup for debugging logon here at home, so im not sure what else to tell you to go check for now. Check that policy, compare the file and lets see where we are.

 

Sorry for such a late post.

Ok, Joe, that key was there because of one of the sites PeteC gave me. I nuked it, but it didn't fix the problem. I ran the binary comparison and this is what I got:

FC: C:\Downloadedfile\msgina.dll longer than C:\Windows\System32\msgina.dll

This is strange because the msgina I downloaded should be smaller than the one in the system, because the msgina in the system should have extra added info on the .net passport or something.

I ran several spyware/virus programs and found a few things, but deleting them didn't solve the problem.

Miz, I was planning to replace the downloaded file using your method, but once I ran the binary comparison and got strange results, I would like to wait a bit for more info on each msgina before I replace.

Thanks you guys. Miz, I'll be sure to use your method if I need to replace the msgina files. Joe, thanks for all of your advice and I hope to hear from you again!