After you install Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3), you may receive the following error message when you start your computer: The Windows logon screen does not appear and you cannot open Windows 2000.

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This problem may occur if Winlogon.exe queries the Mpr.dll registry key before Services.exe has created this registry key. In Windows 2000 SP3 , Msgina.dll is dependant on Mpr.dll. Mpr.dll requires that the following registry key is present to be able to initialize: This key is created when Services.exe starts. Because Winlogon.exe starts at the same time as Services.exe, Winlogon may query the Mpr.dll registry key before is has been created by Services.exe. When this occurs, Msgina.dll does not load and you receive the error message that is described in the "Symptoms" section of this article. This dependency does not exist in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

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Service Pack Information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language. The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name
   ------------------------------------------------------
   15-Oct-2002  18:53  5.0.2195.6090  332,560  Msgina.dll

To apply this hot fix, you must be able to start your computer and open Windows 2000. You will require access to another Windows 2000 SP2-based computer, and a blank, formatted 3 1/2 inch disk.

To resolve the problem, open Windows 2000, and then apply the hotfix:

1.	On a second Windows 2000 SP2-based computer, insert a blank formatted 3 1/2-inch disk in to the disk drive.
2.	Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
3.	At the command prompt, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command: C: CD \ CD \WINNT\system32\dllcache COPY msgina.dll A:
4.	Remove the 3 1/2-inch disk from the disk drive.
5.	Start the computer that has the problem described in the "Symptoms" section, and then start Recovery Console. If you do not have Recovery Console installed as a start-up option, follow these steps: a. Insert the Windows 2000 Server Setup Disk 1 disk into your disk drive, or if you have a bootable CD-ROM drive, you can insert the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. b. Restart your computer. c. Follow the directions that appear on the screen. If you are using the Setup disks, you are prompted to insert the other Setup disks into the disk drive. It may take several minutes to load files. d. Select the appropriate options to repair your Windows 2000 installation and to start the Recovery Console.
6.	At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command: CD system32 REN msgina.dll mdgina.old CD dllcache REN msgina.dll msgina.old NOTE: If Msgina.dll does not exist in the System32 folder or in the Dllcache folder, go to step 7.
7.	Insert the 3 1/2 inch disk that contains the Msgina.dll file copied from the second Windows 2000 SP2-based computer into the disk drive of the computer that has the problem described in the "Symptoms" section.
8.	At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following commands, and press ENTER after each command: COPY a:\msgina.dll CD .. COPY a:\msgina.dll exit
9.	Restart your computer and apply the hotfix.

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Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.

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For additional information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about using Recovery Console, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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