Windws XP Log-on problem HELP!

(my wife is going to KILL ME!).
HELP PLEASE!

On my home PC, my normal boot up does not require a logon. (yes I was
playing), NOW I get the Logon screen with user name/pw. If I leave PW blank,
I get the following message: The system cannot log you on now because the
domain home is not available (no place in logon to put in new domain).

Before logon screen, I get: blue screen, last about 6 seconds and has:
System root/Windows/System32/Autochk.exe program not found, skipping
Autoexec. (this is very close to exact wording).

HOW DO I LOG ON TO MY PC NOW!?
THANKS!
Gene

Gene wrote:

> (my wife is going to KILL ME!).
> HELP PLEASE!
>
> On my home PC, my normal boot up does not require a logon. (yes I was
> playing), NOW I get the Logon screen with user name/pw. If I leave PW
> blank, I get the following message: The system cannot log you on now
> because the domain home is not available (no place in logon to put in new
> domain).
>
> Before logon screen, I get: blue screen, last about 6 seconds and has:
> System root/Windows/System32/Autochk.exe program not found, skipping
> Autoexec. (this is very close to exact wording).

See Part A below for how to get into your computer. See Part B after that
regarding the autochk.exe error.

Part A - Getting into your computer:

If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with
administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your
original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the
password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account.
In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping
the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right
menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once
in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The
default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have
Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in
Administrator account's password to a blank.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that
you will remember and make other desired changes. WRITE THE PASSWORDS DOWN
AND PUT THEM SOMEWHERE YOU WON'T LOSE THEM.

Part B - The autocheck error

Quoted from http://www.jsifaq.com/SF/Tips/Tip.aspx?id=10242

This behavior will occur if %SystemRoot%\System32\Autochk.exe is missing or
corrupt.

To workaround this problem:

1. Insert the Windows XP installation CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. If the
Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP window appears, close it.

2. Open a CMD.EXE window.

3. Type the following command and press Enter:

echo Y|copy <CD-ROM:>\i386\autochk.exe %WINDIR%\system32

4. Remove the Windows XP installation CD-ROM.

5. Shutdown and restart Windows XP.

HTH,

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!