Member Avatar for sphereof

I'm running windows xp and once i have logged in this message appears twice
'the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005)'.
Then the desktop background image is all that can be seen and no icons/ menus
i can access programs using the task manager
i have used registry first aid and deleted all the files i thought may have been recently installed (they are backed up)

I was thinking about copying the files to a hard disk and reformatting but this seems over the top. Is there a simple result? other forums all seem to say different things.
It's possible that i'm not using the registry first aid software properly.
Any help gratefully received.:-/

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Dani AI

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— this is a typical logon-shell problem (the component that starts Explorer is not running). is correct that a repair install will fix it, but there are quicker, non-destructive checks you can do first.

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) → File → New Task and run regedit. Export the Winlogon key before changing anything. Inspect:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Userinit    = "C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe,"
Shell       = "explorer.exe"

Make sure Userinit is a single string (REG_SZ), exactly points to userinit.exe and includes the trailing comma. If Shell is missing or wrong, restore it to explorer.exe. Small typos or a missing comma here are a common result of registry cleaners and will produce the wallpaper-only symptom.

If userinit.exe itself is missing or corrupted, run System File Checker from a command prompt (Task Manager → New Task → cmd, then sfc /scannow with the XP CD in the drive) or restore the file from known-good media. If you cannot run SFC, run System Restore (rstrui.exe) from Task Manager to rewind to a point before the registry changes.

To back up data before any major change: use Task Manager → New Task to run explorer.exe (to copy files), or run cmd and use xcopy to an external drive. If file access is difficult, boot from a Linux/WinPE live USB to copy off Documents and Settings first. If malware caused the change, scan in Safe Mode with updated anti-malware tools before a repair install. If these steps don’t help, a repair install (as suggested) is the reasonable next step.

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Member Avatar for OlyComputers

Does the message tell you what application failed to initialize?

You shouldn't have to reformat. If you feel that your system is running properly other than this (programs are responsive when loaded, no viruses, ect,...) you can do a "repair" install, which should fix the issue without deleting files and setting.

PS: It's not a bad idea to back files up before a repair if you're not familiar with windows installations, just in case you do something wrong.

Member Avatar for sphereof

The full message is
userinit.exe failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click ok to terminate the program.
I click ok and i am left with only a desktop background image no menus.

To back up my documents i go into task manager but i can't select all and copy onto a hard disk which leaves me a bit stuck.

Any ideas?

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