anyone has this error msg?

"Interactive Logon Process Initialization has failed"

i got this when i start windows vista and it wont allow me to log into it.... any idea to fix this error other than i have to reinstall the whole damn thing......

try f8 on boot up and when it ask what to do. load "last good profile that worked.

Hello. I know this thread is super old, but I have not found a solution to this anywhere on the web, and I finally figured out how to solve this problem. Maybe somebody will find this useful.

Open up a command prompt from your recovery options and copy C:\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs\Application.evtx to an external disk. Get on another computer with Vista and open up Application.evtx with the Event Viewer. Find the error where SideBySide is the source in the event log and it should say something about an error in some manifest file. Now go back to your computer and replace that file on your C drive with a copy of that file from your recovery partition or recovery disk. Restart your computer and it should work.

This worked perfectly for me! The one thing I did differently was to build a VistaPE CD abd booted from it. Makes it a little easier to deal with the monstrous file names!

Certainly saves alot of effort and money over Dell's recommendation to have a computer store back up the computer then re-install Vista!

Thanks for the followup, I was googlin' all over for this answer.

-Mindless Automaton

Is there any way to do this without another Vista machine? I've got this semi-old desktop with XP Pro x64 and a new laptop with Vista. I've tried system restore and wot. I really don't want to install windows all over again, but I suppose it's better than spending hundreds of dollars with some tech guy who will do the same.