Since this is practicly one of the only forums I belong too, and we got some pretty good computer buffs here, I have a quick question for anyone that could help. I think I need to re-install windows XP on my desktop, I had a corrupt registry and after I "fixed" it my computer now continues to reboot itself with a "lsass.exe" error without ever going to the desktop, and I havnt found a soultion to that problem yet.
But my question is, if I reinstall windows XP from the reinstall disk, will that delete any folders from my hard drives? Like I have my entire collection of skins and meshes in a folder on my E: drive that I share with the community, and I really wouldnt want to loose that :banghead:
Also would it delete "My documents" folder and create a new one, cuz I have alot of stuff in there that I dont wanna loose.
I'm not reformatting any hard drives just doing a fresh install of Windows, and since my computer never completly boots up I cant back up any files.
Thanks for any help guys and gals!
Reinstalling shouldn't affect any of your personal files unless you choose the format option and even then only the C: drive is affected, assuming that's where you have it installed. For extra protection you could move your mydocuments folder to E:, if possible. This can be done by just changing the pointer when you right click on the folder to E:
I had to do a lot of reinstalls back in the day because i was fond of tweaking my system...I've learned to leave well enough alone now.
I am pretty sure a Windows re-install won't wipe your skin and mesh data if it's not on the drive where Windows is installed. I am not even sure that the Windows installer wipes My Documents, but I would want to be sure before proceeding. Keep in mind that other programs that you re-install may want to wipe their folders even if Windows itself doesn't touch them.
BTW, can you boot into safe mode? If you can get there, you should be able to backup your files. If not, I would still download one of the utilities available online that let you create a bootable CD and use that. Who knows what all could happen during a re-installation; I would really want to back stuff up. At the very least, copy your data to another hard drive or another part of that hard drive (e.g. into a \mybackups folder or something) in case something you don't expect gets overwritten.
Also, this is just random, so who knows if it will work, but I wonder if your lsass.exe is just corrupt and maybe you could replace it with a clean copy from your Windows CD and save the trouble of a re-install (and the real trouble of re-installing all your software).
Quote from: magusbuckly at geekstogo.comHello:
Sorry to hear you are having computer troubles. I have had the lsass.exe problem many times in the past and have done more research on this problem then anyone on the planet (or so it feels).
To my disbelief, the easiest thing to do is just reinstall windows into the same directory.
When you boot from your XP CD, choose the option to install. Then choose the option to re-install Windows. Do not install to a new directory. When the system comes up, you will have lost your restore points, but they've NEVER helped me anyway. While installing windows, it will ask you to create your system users. For now, we are going to create a random user just to get your PC running again. Don't strain your brain trying to come up with a user name. You can use any ole name, but DON'T use the name of any of your old users. When the system comes up....reboot. Now, when your computer boots, you'll be taken to the login screen. Login as your original user name (the one you had trouble with) and go to the users settings under the control panel. From there, you can delete the random profile you just created when setting up windows.
Trust me, I've tried so many things, including the some of the stuff mentioned above. The only thing I've found to fix this problem is to reinstall Windows into the same directory the corrupt version is in.
LSASS = Local Security Authority Services Sysetm
This file is used when Windows determines what type user you are - Administrator, Power User, etc. This is why the error always comes just before you get to your desktop.
Problems with this file are creating the "Blue Screen Of Death". The reason your computer keeps restarting is because, by default, XP Home is set to reboot when there is a "Blue Screen Of Death". To disable this feature...so you can actually see the error message and try to determine the cause of your problem do this:
Open "System" icon from the control panel. Click "Settings" under Startup and Recovery. Now uncheck "Automatically Restart" under "System Failure".
I hope this helps. I know this is a time consuming process, but I'd bet all I own that this is the road you'll have to take at some point to get your system up and running again. If I were you, I'd just go ahead and take this road now.
Good luck, keep us posted on your progress
Oh, usually, the only time the LSASS problem is a virus is if the error message is listed as "Lsass.exe" instead of the normal "lsass.exe".
Quote from: magusbuckley at geekstogo.comWhen you reinstall Windows, you WILL NOT loose any of your other files and/or folders. Think of it as installing just another application.
You are only reinstalling the OS, NOT formatting your drive.
You say you don't have any users set up on your computer, but you really do. First off, you have the standard guest accound and the standard administrator account. These are created when windows installs. The guest account is disabled by default and the administrator account is only accessble in Safe Mode.
There is a third user, however, that you created when you set up windows. If you only have one user on your system, Windows bypasses the login screen and takes you right to the desktop. Since you haven't actually had to log into the account, you may have forgotten that you created it.
With that in mind, when you get to the "Add User" screen of windows setup, pick a user name that is really wild like "hairbrush" or something similar. You want to pick a name that you know for sure you didn't use before.
When user "hairbrush" gets to the desktop, look at your users under the control panel. There, you will see the old user you had created. Reboot, log in as the old user and delete user "hairbrush" from the users under the control panel.
REINSTALLING WINDOWS WILL NOT DELETE ANY OF YOUR OLD FILES AND/OR FOLDERS.
Be sure, however, that you tell it to REINSTALL windows into the SAME DIRECTORY as the corrupt version. If you install to a new directory, your system will give you a message as though you have a dual boot system. It will ask you which XP HOME version you wish to load. One, of course, will not run as it still has the lsass.exe problem. The other will run, but you'll loose all of your old settings - background, shortcuts, program shortcuts on the start menu, etc. In addition, you'll have to activate your copy of windows again.
If you happen to dot his, you can easily correct this problem by editing the boot.ini file. In that file, just find the references to the two XP HOME's you have installed. Delete the line that refrences the corrupt version. When you reboot, since only one OS is listed (the working version of XP Home), windows will load without asking you select an OS from the multiboot screen.
If you install into the same directory, you can get back your old user and life will resume for you as if nothing ever happened.
When you tell windows to Install from the DOS screen, make sure you pick the REINSTALL option. Don't let windows format your drive. You'll be OK. You'll see what I'm talking about when you get to that screen.
Good luck.
Thanks for the Lsass.exe help Pyroclasm, I tried out a bunch of different fixes along with that one, but to no avail. Also I could boot in safe mode but it would re-boot once it went to desktop, so I couldnt back anything up at all, so I went and did a fresh install of windows XP ( I had to use a Dell windows XP disk instead of the one that came with my e machines cuz i lost it, but it worked anyway)
The fresh install fixed all my problems, and didnt touch anything in either my C drive or E drive, so all my folders/files were safe, but it did cause a number of other issues that I can live with like:
- it did wipe "my documents"
- reset all windows settings, favorites , ect
- had to reinstall printer, scanner, and any extra hardware (video cams)
- had to re-install my updated video card
- and it renamed my E hard drive to "D", and renamed my CD drive from D to "E" ????
So i'm happy with the outcome (it aint my main computer anyway)
Thanks Pyro, Stumpy, and theLaw, i greatly appreciate it!!
Note to self: don't keep anything of import in the My Documents folder.And btw, I think you can reassign your drive letters if you like.
First rule every computer user must learn:
Backup!
Backup!
Backup!
I recommend Acronis for backups.
And I agree with Jey...
Backup!
Backup!
Backup!
In fact, only feel safe when you have made 3 copies of your stuff, locked all three in a fallout shelter and dropped the fallout shelter down a well.
Or, uh, something like that :unsure:
no, no, never keep multiple backups in the same place! it needs to be 3 different fallout shelters in 3 different wells, on three different continents on 3 different worlds in 3 different galaxies in 3 different dimensions!
Back up files?? Oh but why would i need to do that? I am very safe with what is downloaded, I dont give out any certain info online, I never change anything I shouldnt, im the only one that used that computer, nothing could possibly EVER happen to me.......
(note to self......buy a deep well)
Better yet, send all your personal info (including credit and bank account numbers) to us. That way, you'll have multiple redundancy backups; you can never be too careful. :) :) :) :)
DK
I would just get an external usb hard drive, and keep all of your data files there. It's saved my data on more than one occasion, and it's always good to have backup.