Secondary accounts cannot be accessed

Dayron

Dayron

I'm using Windows XP x86 Service Pack 3 on VirtualBox. I normally use my admin account.

For some reason I am unable to successfully log on to any other account. I have created a limited account and when I try to access it, it displays an error. Then I have to use Task Manager to log off and return to the Welcome screen. The same issue happens with the special Guest account which is not created but only enabled.

I made sure not to use any potentially reserved names like "user". I've tried deleting the account and creating it again.
 

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Dayron said:
I'm using Windows XP x86 Service Pack 3 on VirtualBox. I normally use my admin account.

For some reason I am unable to successfully log on to any other account. I have created a limited account and when I try to access it, it displays an error. Then I have to use Task Manager to log off and return to the Welcome screen. The same issue happens with the special Guest account which is not created but only enabled.

I made sure not to use any potentially reserved names like "user". I've tried deleting the account and creating it again.
Click to expand...
Does your VM have a Network Card enabled? If yes, then malware might be involved, as it commonly corrupts login-related files and botnets find XP machines sometimes in under 3 minutes. Some malware is known to create hidden user accounts or corrupt existing ones, preventing legitimate users from logging in or making it really hard. Is that the case? If that happened, you would have to reinstall the entire thing, which I will be glad to help with, as I have experimented a lot with different ways to install XP on VirtualBox.

There is a simple XP lock utility called LockIt. This is the link: https://archive.org/details/lock-it
If it is unavailable, try again later, as I published it earlier today and IA is still checking the file.
Just run it, click the icon in the minimized tray and try relogging again.

I have not had such a problem, but have researched about it. This is the fix I'm betting on most:
  1. Delete the problematic account (via Control Panel > User Accounts).
  2. Recreate the account with a different name (avoid reserved names like "user" or "Administrator").
  3. Check for profile corruption: If the issue persists, try creating a new profile by renaming the existing one (e.g., C:\Documents and Settings\OldUser to OldUser_old)
Here are some immediate fixes:
  1. Boot into Safe Mode (press F8 during startup and select "Safe Mode with Networking").
  2. Open the Command Prompt and run:
    sfc /scannow
This is just a little fix. If the corruption is small, it should work though.
If the above steps fail, use the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) to set Safe Mode:

  • Press Win + R, type "msconfig" and press Enter.
  • Navigate to the Boot tab (or "BOOT.INI")
  • Select Safe Mode (or "/SAFEBOOT") under Boot Options.
  • There are some options next to safe mode. Select "DSRepair" (preferably) or "Minimal"
  • Click Apply and restart the VM.
Try doing this in Safe Mode again:
  • Open the Command Prompt and run:
    sfc /scannow
If that does not help:
In VirtualBox:
  • Allocate sufficient resources: Ensure the virtual machine has at least 512 MB of RAM and 1 CPU core. Personally, I use 2048 MB of RAM and 2 CPU cores - great performance! Incorrect settings could have led to corruption during installation or during use. When I had the wrong setup, I had a random .dll missing upon first boot. That might have happened with your winlogon files. Make sure you do not have EFI enabled. However, insufficient resources can trigger GUI failures.
  • Install Guest Additions: Ensure VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed to improve compatibility and performance. This can resolve issues with graphics drivers and system stability, which might be reasons of corruption.
If the above steps fail, consider:
  • Repair installation: Use the Windows XP installation CD to repair the system without losing data. In VirtualBox, attach the originial .iso and proceed.
  • Reinstall Windows: As a last resort, a clean installation may resolve persistent file corruption or driver conflicts. Back up anything you want to keep before proceeding.

Hope this helps!​

 
Last edited:
Yeah, it would help to narrow this down to either a hardware or a software problem. You can change the shell= in regedit (safe mode, BootCD like BartPE or Hirens, load drive as secondary from another Windows installation, etc), or simply replace explorer.exe with a copy of some other program (cmd, progman, etc) to see if it logs in successfully. Once your desktop is loaded, try the real Explorer again and see what happens.
 
Martingonn said:
Here are some immediate fixes:
  1. Boot into Safe Mode (press F8 during startup and select "Safe Mode with Networking").
  2. Open the Command Prompt and run:
    sfc /scannow
This is just a little fix. If the corruption is small, it should work though.
If the above steps fail, use the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) to set Safe Mode:

  • Press Win + R, type "msconfig" and press Enter.
  • Navigate to the Boot tab (or "BOOT.INI")
  • Select Safe Mode (or "/SAFEBOOT") under Boot Options.
  • There are some options next to safe mode. Select "DSRepair" (preferably) or "Minimal"
  • Click Apply and restart the VM.
Try doing this in Safe Mode again:
  • Open the Command Prompt and run:
    sfc /scannow
Click to expand...
See the attached file for the result of both procedures.

Martingonn said:
  • Allocate sufficient resources: Ensure the virtual machine has at least 512 MB of RAM and 1 CPU core. Personally, I use 2048 MB of RAM and 2 CPU cores - great performance! Incorrect settings could have led to corruption during installation or during use. When I had the wrong setup, I had a random .dll missing upon first boot. That might have happened with your winlogon files. Make sure you do not have EFI enabled. However, insufficient resources can trigger GUI failures.
  • Install Guest Additions: Ensure VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed to improve compatibility and performance. This can resolve issues with graphics drivers and system stability, which might be reasons of corruption.
Click to expand...
I've allocated 1024 MB of RAM and I have a dual-core CPU. Guest Additions are on. EFI is not enabled.
 

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Dayron said:
See the attached file for the result of both procedures.


I've allocated 1024 MB of RAM and I have a dual-core CPU. Guest Additions are on. EFI is not enabled.
Click to expand...
Did you modify your ISO using a tool like nLite or was it an unmodified one? This information would really help.

As for the fixes, here they are:

Go to Start -> Run -> services.msc, then:
* Scroll down to "Remote Procedure Call (RPC)" (not the Locator service).
* Ensure its status is "Started" and its startup type is set to "Automatic".
* If it is stopped or set to Manual, right-click and select "Start" or change the startup type to Automatic and then start it.

If you installed a modified ISO, the SFC component could have been disabled. You could also try that if you did not modify your ISO image.

Go to Start -> Run -> regedit.exe, then:
* Navigate to the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
* Find the value named SFCDisable and set it to 0.
* Exit the Registry Editor (regedit) and restart the computer.
* Then try running sfc /scannow again.

Hope this helps!
 
Worms have been known to crash RPC, but typically Windows will then auto-reboot instead of giving Application Errors. Have you spent a lot of time on this VM that makes you want to keep it instead of trying a fresh one? Have you tried it on another computer to rule out hardware problems?
 
PROBLEM FIXED! The OS has undergone the repair process and now the accounts work correctly. Thank you both for chipping in!

How to do it:
Start the OS and as soon as you see the virtual machine screen press F8 a few times. Next, follow the instructions on the screen and press any key to boot from the CD.
Do not confuse Repair Console with Repair. At first I tried to use the Repair Console but it kept asking me for Admin password which had not been set up at all, so I was confused. Then I found out that was the wrong kind of Repair. You have to first choose to run the normal installation and then it will ask you to initialize the Repair.

@Martingonn
I did not modify the ISO. I took it from here.
RPC was set to Started and Automatic.
SFCDisable was already set to 0.

I'm still interested why this problem came about.
 
Last edited:
Exactly, I too am curious what happened. Did you try just pressing enter (blank) when prompted for Admin password? Thanks for posting an easy Repair guide that visitors can follow.
 
Dayron said:
PROBLEM FIXED! The OS has undergone the repair process and now the accounts work correctly. Thank you both for chipping in!

How to do it:
Start the OS and as soon as you see the virtual machine screen press F8 a few times. Next, follow the instructions on the screen and press any key to boot from the CD.
Do not confuse Repair Console with Repair. At first I tried to use the Repair Console but it kept asking me for Admin password which had not been set up at all, so I was confused. Then I found out that was the wrong kind of Repair. You have to first choose to run the normal installation and then it will ask you to initialize the Repair.

@Martingonn
I did not modify the ISO. I took it from here.
RPC was set to Started and Automatic.
SFCDisable was already set to 0.

I'm still interested why this problem came about.
Click to expand...
Glad it worked! I have the EXACT SAME Windows XP ISO image.
 
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