Logon Process Initialization Failure - Vista Ultimate x64

T

theageless

Member
Hi,

Unfortunately I'm having a bit of problem here with running a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on my machine (Do not ask why please :P). The specs of my PC are noted at the end of the post.

The problem is that having done a "fresh" install of the OS on my PC, I randomly (not always) get an error notably this one when logging in (and before getting it, the boot load takes ages):

Logon Process Initialization Failure
Interactive logon process initialization has failed.
Please consult the event log for more details.

Now I know that there are many solutions on the net, but the weird thing is that I did multiple "clean" installs, from scratch and I get this error and sometimes the windows services fail to run and the OS is just unstable. How could this be possible when I do clean installs? Things like system startup repair, system restore and many other solutions out there did not help. Well they shouldn't because even a fresh install failed...

On the other hand Win7/8/8.1/10 work with no problem. I really have no clue why I'm getting this, can anybody help? Highly appreciated.

PC specs:

CPU
Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.00GHz 33 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology

RAM
32.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z97X-SLI-CF (SOCKET 0) 28 °C

Graphics
DELL U2414H (1920x1080@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (Gigabyte)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti (EVGA) 31 °C

Storage
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM 001-1CH164 SCSI Disk Device (SATA)
476GB Crucial_ CT512MX100SSD1 SCSI Disk Device (SSD) 26 °C
238GB Crucial_ CT256MX100SSD1 SCSI Disk Device (SSD) 27 °C

Optical Drives
ASUS DRW-24B3ST i SCSI CdRom Device

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
 

My Computer

System One

Maybe install Vista SP1 and SP2 and all updates, see if that resolves the problem?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s)
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 27" C27F398 Curved Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 (HDMI)
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB Seagate ST2000NM001 2TB Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5TB
    PSU
    500W
    Mouse
    Lenovo USB
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Internet Speed
    50MB Down, 10MB Up
  • Operating System
    Windows 7 Pro X64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP xw4400 Workstation
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    HP 0A68h
    Memory
    5GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer KN242HYL 24" (KVMS)
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST3120026As 120GB SATA (boot) Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB SATA
    Mouse
    Logitech via KVMS switch
    Keyboard
    Dell USB via KVMS switch
    Internet Speed
    50 Down, 10 Up
    Other Info
    Apache Web Server since 2001
Maybe install Vista SP1 and SP2 and all updates
Click to expand...
Maybe he looked at what you filled in for your OS, which was just "Vista", and thought you were running a base version without SP1 and SP2 and updates?

Were you actually able to get to the desktop, run the system, apply post-SP2 updates, etc.?

What is the source of your installation disk? Did you get a SP2 iso file download on this forum (from another thread)?
If so did you verify the file with a SHA1 checksum, just to make sure it didn't get corrupted during download?

Or did you create an SP2 installation disc in a different manner?

I might try to install the 32-bit Vista, just to get a broad perspective on the problem.

Maybe Vista can't handle such nice hardware...
 

My Computer

System One

virtual6 said:
Maybe he looked at what you filled in for your OS, which was just "Vista", and thought you were running a base version without SP1 and SP2 and updates?

Were you actually able to get to the desktop, run the system, apply post-SP2 updates, etc.?

What is the source of your installation disk? Did you get a SP2 iso file download on this forum (from another thread)?
If so did you verify the file with a SHA1 checksum, just to make sure it didn't get corrupted during download?

Or did you create an SP2 installation disc in a different manner?

I might try to install the 32-bit Vista, just to get a broad perspective on the problem.

Maybe Vista can't handle such nice hardware...
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting. The OS was Vista SP2 indeed, sorry for the confusion.

Yes I was able to get to the desktop and install all updates.

I lastly used the one from here, but I also used other sources as well and they're all giving me the same problem so don't think that's the problem.

I did just now, no problem afaik. Anyway as I said, I used many sources to see if the specific .iso file I was using is corrupted, but it seems that I'm getting the issue with all of them so that rules out corrupt downloads.

I just made a bootable DVD/USB out of a Vista SP2 .iso

I don't think I'll have time to install the x86, plus it's of no use as I use more than 4GB RAM.

That may be true indeed. :D
 

My Computer

System One

You're right, the Google displays many search results for this problem, although the majority seem to be for Win7.
I read some info about a Win7 hotfix, the cause of the problem seems to be a [software] timing issue.

Do you use automatic logon (local computer and a single user account with no password)?
If so, my thought is to change the logon process in some way...effectively change the process path...to maybe get a successful (no logon failure) result.
Perhaps setup another user with a standard account...and add a password to each of the admin and standard accounts. This is kinda the recommended setup, although I don't know how many people do this...using a standard account gets more UAC prompts and sometimes greyed-out settings in some programs.
 

My Computer

System One

I tried the automatic logon solution provided elsewhere, it didn't work.

I also tried the multi-user setup, still no luck. I also need to be an admin so a standard user account is out of question for me.
 

My Computer

System One

My multi-user/password idea was just to "shake-up" the processing and hope for a different result.
I didn't mean to say that you would or should logon to a standard account.

Are you running multiple systems on your machine? I was thinking, since you want to run Vista (but we cannot ask why;)), if you have Win8.1 Pro, try Vista as a virtual machine. Your hardware would certainly have the power to run several virtual machines.
 

My Computer

System One

Thanks for the recommendation but if I can't run Vista as a OS then I'll give up and continue using my current one. VM doesn't do the trick for me really. I just wish that I could at least understand "why" I'm getting this dumb error, wasted so much time figuring it out. :P
 

My Computer

System One

Yes, sometimes you just have to let it go...there will be other problems to solve.

Your error messages indicate to review the log entries, did you ever find anything meaningful?

The Win7 fix for this problem mentioned a timing problem. To understand the fix, would require a far deeper understanding of the logon process than either of us has. Was there a similar fix for Vista? Who knows...

Sometimes a hardware peculiarity or combination just won't work right. I remember back in the day, after installing one of the new large hard drives (1GB !), the computer would get a "boot device not found"...sometimes.
Turned out the drive was a little slow to get up to speed in time to get "found", so we had to add a slight delay to the boot process.

To which drive device did you install Vista? I wonder if a different system drive would make a difference?
It would also still be interesting to know if it was related to 64-bit...
At this point, probably not worth reinstalling again.

My obsolete Vista is running nicely on several obsolete computers, maybe that is it's destiny...
 

My Computer

System One

Where did you get the Vista SP2 iso? Was it from Ex_Brit? If not, post here: Vista ISO download and ask Peter (Ex_Brit) to send you the link to the versions of Vista you need, 32 or 64. Include your E-mail address mucked up, like abc at xyz DOT com then edit your post and remove it as soon as you receive the link.

The ISO Peter provides has both SP1 and SP2 applied.

Pick up the Tutorial: How to Download a Vista ISO and Create an Installation DVD or USB here:

STEP THREE
To Create Vista Installation DVD or USB Flash Drive with ISO File

During the install, when asked for the key, don't enter it. You will then be given a menu where you can chose the version you want to install.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s)
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 27" C27F398 Curved Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 (HDMI)
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB Seagate ST2000NM001 2TB Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5TB
    PSU
    500W
    Mouse
    Lenovo USB
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Internet Speed
    50MB Down, 10MB Up
  • Operating System
    Windows 7 Pro X64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP xw4400 Workstation
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    HP 0A68h
    Memory
    5GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer KN242HYL 24" (KVMS)
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST3120026As 120GB SATA (boot) Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB SATA
    Mouse
    Logitech via KVMS switch
    Keyboard
    Dell USB via KVMS switch
    Internet Speed
    50 Down, 10 Up
    Other Info
    Apache Web Server since 2001
@Ztrucker: As I mentioned previously, It was from Peter indeed. I think I properly made a bootable DVD hehe. :D
@virtual6: I installed it on both SSD's and got the same instability. However this may be a clue, It may be possible that Vista isn't managing the SSD's properly thus sometimes failing to process services maybe? I can't install it on my HDD as it's an external eSATA.

You are also right about some strange behaviors among certain hardware combinations. For instance my PC would randomly freeze no matter what (and yes I did all that there was to it) when I was originally using a R7 260X as my GPU. It turned out that the GPU was totally healthy so it's strange why I no longer get the same thing with my 750 Ti.
 

My Computer

System One

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