all users with passwords set are suddenly locked out!

[DonPedrone]

hello,

I am using xp pro and from one day to another all user accounts with password set up are no longer able to log in.

the only way to log in as a specific user is to log in with system's adminstrator account (which luckily had no pw set) and remove the pw for the user. if one then sets up a new pw for the user the situation is the same as before: the password is rejected. bizarrrr!!!!

I have set to allow pws to never become obsolete and also have set to allow 999 tries to log in before the systems locks the account for 1 minute.

has anybody an idea what is going on here and how I can solve this puzzle?

[Ponch]

the password is rejected

How is it "rejected", what's the exact message ?

If you log in with Login Screen (not Welcome screen), can you check (typing in the username box) that the keyboard config at LogOff is the same as in the Administrator's session ?

[DonPedrone]

ponch,

thanks for your hint - I think I understand your idea!!

problem now is that I have given the notebook back to the person it belongs to so I can not test your hypothesis. at the moment the system is set up as to show the welcome screen (icons for each user). is there any simple way to change the login screen I can instruct my friend over the phone to go for - so easy he is able to understand (he really knows nothing about computers ...)?

also could you explain how it is possible to have another keyboard-layout at login-screen different to what is setup normally? how can that happen without knowingly managing to achieve? this bizarre situation happened over the night, from shutdown to the next restart. or in other words: could you explain what to do if one wants keyboard layout A at login screen but layout B when logged in?

EDIT:

to answer your question: I don't remember exactly what the message was. it certainly did not pop up in a new window (no message window at all), there appeared just a very small notification area (no window) below the line where to enter the password and it tells not to forget about a possible problem with the shift-key (lock) or at least something similar.

Edited August 20, 2008 by DonPedrone

[IcemanND]

press ctrl-alt-delete twice to get the classic login screen

[Mr Snrub]

could you explain how it is possible to have another keyboard-layout at login-screen different to what is setup normally?

Before a user logs on, the profile that is used is the SYSTEM.

To define the locale settings for the SYSTEM account and Default Users accounts on XP with the default Control Panel layout:

- click "Date, Time, Language and Regional Options"

- click "Change the format of numbers, dates, and times"

- configure the regional settings as required, including the keyboard and input language via the Details button on the Language tab

- click the Advanced tab

- check the box "Apply all settings to the current user account and to the default user profile", the following popup box appears:

"You chose to apply these settings to the default user profile.

These settings will affect the logon screen and all new user accounts. Some system services may require you to restart your computer before the changes will take effect."

- click OK on the message, then OK or Apply on the previous window, then restart

[DonPedrone]

thanks a lot!

I will try your suggestions and will report back.

[Ponch]

Before a user logs on, the profile that is used is the SYSTEM.

I think to remember something trickier; Welcome screen does not revert to default keyboard.

This means you turn the machine on, you get config "A", log in as user1, get config "1" (that will be different if the user has ever changed it in his session) , log off to Welcome screen, keep config "1", login as user2, get config "2", log off and keep config "2" on your Welcome Screen. CtrlAltDel (twice) will get you back to keyb config "A" on a classic login screen. I've seen this behaviour 3 years ago, I don't know if it's considered as normal or if it has been fixed by MS.

Also pay attention to the "keyboard indicators" like Shift and NumLock. Numlock can be pretty annoying on a notebook.

[SngBrdb]

... I don't know if it's considered as normal or if it has been fixed by MS.

No, this issue hasn't been fixed by MS, though updates have been released that were supposed to. I still get this on my pc from time to time, and the only thing I can do is a warm boot.

I'm not clear on the keyboard config you mention, why it would change from the default, though I've seen the no-revert on logoff you mention... damned annoying; when my gf logs off, I have her sound scheme on the Welcome Screen. Bah.

I can't remember the explanation of the locked-out issue... something to do with multiple logons/logoffs locking out the accounts as if they had entered bad passwords prior to the issue. In fact, if you enable Security Logging, the event log will show that a different logon method is being attempted (don't remember the details, just that logging on says something like 'successful logon using method A', then after several logon/logoffs that trigger the issue, looking at the event log says 'failed logon attempt using method B'.

A solution I've seen (but haven't tried) is to remove Windows Update for KB923191... in This Thread someone claims to have spoken to Microsoft support, who told him to remove the update, and that the problem would be fixed in SP3. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing the issue since installing SP3...