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View Full Version : No usernames show in startup - WinXP Pro


Nic Watson
December 11th 03, 11:17 PM
This is my predicament:

After installing some new software (namely PGP 8.0
Personal Freeware edition) I restarted my computer, and
got an error claiming that a system file was "missing or
corrupted". I (stupidly) did not record the name of the
system file, but I recall that its extension was ".nls".
I ran the Recovery Console through the Windows XP setup
CD, but didn't really have a clue what I was supposed to
do with it. So I ran CHKDSK with the /R switch in hopes
of fixing up anything that was corrpted. It did its thing
and told me it'd fixed up "one or more" errors, so
restarted again. This time it didn't give me the error,
but had some peculiar behaviour during startup. After
the "Starting Windows XP" screen the screen went blank for
an amount of time that seemed out of place and
uncharacteristic when compared to past startups. Soon
enough, though, the next bit came up where the screen
reads "To begin, click your user name". I usually don't
have to go through this screen... I guess because I'm the
only user. But it seems to come up when I restart Windows
after having performed some sort of maintenance or running
Windows setup, so I'd have thought nothing of it except
for the fact that *there were no user names to click on*!
Just blank blue screen right where they should have
been. They aren't even just slow in showing up. After
about two minutes of the computer sitting passive it just
restarts and does the whole thing all over again. If I
ctrl-alt-del from this screen I get a login prompt to
enter my username and password. Nothing seems to work,
though. I tried my username, and the
name "Administrator", with passwords, without passwords,
etc - and I always seem to get an error that says that
what I'm trying to use is an "invalid handle".

Ideas, anyone?

Rich Barry
December 11th 03, 11:18 PM
You could first try holding F8 at Startup and from the Menu select Last
Known Good Configuration.
If that doesnt work then do a Repair Install. www.dougknox.com
WinXPTips left column last entry
"Nic Watson" > wrote in message
...
> This is my predicament:
>
> After installing some new software (namely PGP 8.0
> Personal Freeware edition) I restarted my computer, and
> got an error claiming that a system file was "missing or
> corrupted". I (stupidly) did not record the name of the
> system file, but I recall that its extension was ".nls".
> I ran the Recovery Console through the Windows XP setup
> CD, but didn't really have a clue what I was supposed to
> do with it. So I ran CHKDSK with the /R switch in hopes
> of fixing up anything that was corrpted. It did its thing
> and told me it'd fixed up "one or more" errors, so
> restarted again. This time it didn't give me the error,
> but had some peculiar behaviour during startup. After
> the "Starting Windows XP" screen the screen went blank for
> an amount of time that seemed out of place and
> uncharacteristic when compared to past startups. Soon
> enough, though, the next bit came up where the screen
> reads "To begin, click your user name". I usually don't
> have to go through this screen... I guess because I'm the
> only user. But it seems to come up when I restart Windows
> after having performed some sort of maintenance or running
> Windows setup, so I'd have thought nothing of it except
> for the fact that *there were no user names to click on*!
> Just blank blue screen right where they should have
> been. They aren't even just slow in showing up. After
> about two minutes of the computer sitting passive it just
> restarts and does the whole thing all over again. If I
> ctrl-alt-del from this screen I get a login prompt to
> enter my username and password. Nothing seems to work,
> though. I tried my username, and the
> name "Administrator", with passwords, without passwords,
> etc - and I always seem to get an error that says that
> what I'm trying to use is an "invalid handle".
>
> Ideas, anyone?

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