alt 2
+ Get the offline registry/password editor from
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
There's a bootable linux CD image there, which is what I used. You don't have to be linux-aware, since it starts the editor. You do have to be patient, since it's a simple command-line program.
+ Boot the editor CD, and follow the prompts to load the 'Software' registry and go into the full registry editor.
+ Navigate down to the Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon key, and examine the value of the Userinit subkey. If it's not "C:\WINDOWS\System32\userinit.exe,", then change it. (Note: For some reason, simply changing the value was not enough to get the value change saved back to the Windows registry. I got around this by adding a temporary key and then saving.)
+ Quit and save, then go back through the editor process to make sure the change took.
+ Remove the CD and reboot Windows. You'll have to wait through a chkdsk, but that's a small price to pay for not having to rebuild your system!
+ Run regedit and delete the temporary key you created in HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon
+ Back up your registry