lsass.exe error and more, please help!

[PrimaveraTard]

First off, I'm using XP Home but I figure you guys might be able to help. My laptop recently crapped out. Upon rebooting I would get the error something about "windows could not start file missing <windows root> ntoskrnl.exe." So I took the advice of about 10 forums and ran the recovery console and did a copy of the files. This got the machine to boot, somewhat. It would get to a blue screen after the windows xp logo and then give me an error to the effect "lsass.exe when trying to update password..." Everything I've read says go back to the recovery console as a step in the fix. However, when I go back to the recovery console I can't do anything because I get a message like "password incorrect" But I never had a password in the first place, so I can't get back in, and no, the password is not blank, I checked. Anybody got anything on this one?

 

[linney]

308402 - 'The Password Is Not Valid' Error Message Appears When You Log On to Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308402&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

312149 - HOW TO: Enable Administrator to Log On Automatically in Recovery Console

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;312149

If you can get a 2000 CD that Recovery Console can enter XP without a password due to a bug in XP.

http://www.briansbuzz.com/w/030213/

Access to your Registry from another operating system gives you access to this following procedure.

As an Administrator highlight one of the two following Keys, it will only be available for these Keys.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS

These two articles in the RegEdit Help are a good explanation of the process.

To load a hive into the registry
To unload a hive from the registry




You might be able to make use of BartPE (a mini XP self contained on a bootable CD and run from CD) which includes several useful plugins.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

The same might be possible with a parallel install of XP.

266465 - HOW TO: Perform a Parallel Installation of Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;266465&FR=1&amp;PA=1&amp;SD=HSCH

You can do the same with XP. Don't install any unnecessary programs just some virus scanners, keep the parallel installation as simple as possible.

Or the paragraph in this article.

"To install Windows XP to a new folder (to perform a parallel installation):"

How to install or upgrade to Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316941&FR=1&amp;PA=1&amp;SD=HSCH

If it all gets too much there is always Format and Reinstall to consider.

 

[PrimaveraTard]

In case anyone has the same issue... The problem ended up being a bad hard drive. I used the tech toolkit to turn off the password issue mentioned above and then had to reload windows anyway. Once I had a fresh version on, it continued to throw error after error. I had a friend hook the hard drive up to a diagnostics tool and it spit out bad hard drive codes. For anyone with the same issue, I was running a HP laptop, I think it's a 4500 series.