Everytime I reboot my W2K server I get this error. I set paging files through computer manager (three ways to check, using references from KnowledgeBase and others), I upgraded memory, and still I have the error. What else can I check to troubleshoot?

Hi Sarah,

I had message that no paging file existed or was too small and that it was setting up a temporary one - 20mb. Tried everything to get round it setting it manually, deleting and recreating it. Nothing worked. It existed as I could see it on the drive. Eventually had to do a clean reinstall which fixed it.

How big is the partition your operating system resides on? In all likelyhood, you've run out of space and that's why you're getting this error.

This problem can occur if your Windows 2000 boot partition drive letter does not
match the drive letter assigned during the initial Windows 2000 Setup. Windows
2000 maintains a record of drive letters in a registry based database and
re-assigns drive letters based on Globally Unique Identifiers (GUID) recorded
for each volume. Should the volume GUID change or be duplicated (by hard drive
cloning software), the original drive letter may not be re-assigned to the boot
volume.

This may also occur if you break a system/boot mirror, and then attempt to boot
to the old shadow drive if the original primary drive is missing or
inaccessible. This is because the volume GUID for the shadow drive is different
than that of the original primary drive and does not get the same drive letter
assigned.

RESOLUTION
==========

NOTE: If the computer is networked but not part of a domain, you may need to map
a connection to the machines IPC$ share using that computer's local
administrator credentials before being able to attach using Regedit.exe or
Regedt32.exe as described below to make changes.

To permit a logon and/or change the boot volume drive letter back to its
originally assigned letter, use any of the following methods:

net use \\remote_machine_name\IPC$ /user:administrator *

Use one of the following procedures to facilitate repairs:

1. Remove any cloned hard disks added to your computer since the time the logon
failures occurred, restart your computer, and then try to log on.

2. If the computer is networked, run Regedit.exe on another computer to open and
modify the registry of the computer that is experiencing the logon failure.
Use the information in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article to
change the drive letter back to the original letter assigned to the boot
partition:

Q223188 How to Change the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows 2000

3. If the computer is networked, run Regedt32.exe or Regedit.exe on another
computer to open and modify the registry of the computer that is experiencing
the logon failure. Change the following entry to remove the full path to the
Userinit.exe entry as follows:

Change from:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\Winlogon\Userinit:Reg_SZ:C:\WINNT\system32\userinit.exe

Change to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\Winlogon\Userinit:Reg_SZ:userinit.exe

After you change the preceding registry entry and are able to logon, perform
the steps in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article to re-assign the
proper drive letter to your boot partition and reboot:

Q223188 How to Change the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows 2000

4. Create a "fake" Winnt\System32 folder structure on the drive that is
suspected as being assigned the original boot partition drive letter, and
then expand and copy the Userinit.exe file from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM into
the Winnt\System32 folder on that drive.

You can use the Recovery Console to perform this procedure provided the local
security policy\security option "Recovery Console: Allow floppy copy and
access to all drives and all folders" is enabled. This will permit the
follwing Recovery Console command to work so you can gain unlimited access to
all drives and paths: SET allowallpaths = TRUE This can be implemented as a
policy on a domain controller to be applied to the local computer by using
the information contained in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q235364 Description of the SET Command in Recovery Console

After you perform the preceding procedure and you are able to log on, perform
the steps in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article to re-assign the
proper drive letter to your boot partition and reboot:

Q223188 How to Change the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows 2000

5. With only the system/boot drive in the system, or powered on, boot to a DOS
or Windows 9X Start-up diskette that contains fdisk.exe and run the following
command:

"FDISK /MBR" (without the quotation marks)

This re-writes the Master Boot Record and erase the disk signature associated
with volume GUID. Windows 2000 should assign default drive letters and allow
you logon. Click the article number below for more information about FDISK:

Q69013 FDISK /MBR Rewrites the Master Boot Record

I suspect you removed "everyone" from the security pane.

Make sure you give "system" full control of the drive that has the paging file on it and the message and problems associated will go away!

I was getting the same error message.

Giving "System" full control fixed it!

Thanx

Wow, just googled this problem. Found this page and the solution worked perfectly.

THANKS!

Jim

response #3 is horrible.. just give "system" full control

OK, I'm troubled, I have achieved logon after fdisk /MBR, and I want to give "System" full control of the drive, but I can't seem to find the place to do so. Is it a user account?