Windows XP - MSGINA.DLL procedure origin not found

As soon as your Windows XP computer starts, the login screen displays the message "WinLogon.EXE - Procedure origin not found. Procedure origin 'AssocIsDangerous' was not found in DLL 'SHLWAPI.dll'". If this message is then confirmed, a message appears stating that "msgina.dll" could not be loaded either. Some (login-related) updates or even the service pack (both for XP and for Internet Explorer) are known to update the msgina.dll and shlwapi.dll files either in the wrong versions or not at all in some cases.

Explanation (not relevant for solution, but very interesting to know): Those DLL file (msgina.dll) is a part of GINA (Graphical Identification and Authentication) and is responsible for the identification and authentication of users of a computer - it consists of the well-known welcome page and the "fast user switching" of XP. GINA can be replaced or rewritten by third party vendors if there is a need to change the login process. msgina.dll is called by WinLogon.exe, which in turn is responsible for the profiles and the entire login process - it loads the selected profile into the Registration key HKEY_CURRENT_USER before the user interface (also called shell) is loaded. I suspect that this problem can occur if a modified msgina.dll is reset by an MS update - so if you are using various programs that cause changes during the logon process, I would advise you to uninstall the applications temp.

The shlwapi.dll is responsible for changing paths, text input/output and registry keys and thus takes over the auto-completion of Internet Explorer, for example. It stands for Shell Lightweight API (API = Application Programmers Interface, developers communicate with Windows via this interface, i.e. can execute certain parts, carry out operations or access data such as registry values), which has been integrated into Windows since Windows 98/2000 or from installations of Internet Explorer 4.0 and is so called because at 284 KB (on my Windows Server 2003 test system, for example) or the earlier size (126 KB on Windows 98) it is described as a fairly small library. The String functions section of shlwapi.dll, which is responsible for characters (texts, numbers etc.), is able (among other things) to convert, copy, check, change, compare or duplicate characters, while another part of this library (Path functions) is responsible for paths and file structures. With the help of the individual commands in this section, a developer can, for example, generate exclamation marks for paths with spaces (to make them compatible), recognize URLs, search for file endings in a directory, compare directories or check a specific file for existence. This file is related to GINA due to the verification of user details at login and changes to settings

Solution: To rectify the error, you must replace the affected GINA files with original versions of Windows XP or Windows XP Service Pack 1. Proceed as follows...

Preparations:

Owners of Windows XP Service Pack 1 cannot copy the original application files from the installation, as these are newer from SP1 - overwriting newer files with older versions would paralyze them again. You must therefore extract all data from Service Pack 1 and burn these special files to a CD or save them on a floppy disk, which of course must be done on a secondary PC. This is how you proceed:

1. Visit this page and follow steps 2 to 3 to find out how to use the command X:\WinXP\XPSP1.exe /x:X:\WinXP\SP1Files the contents of the SP1 into a folder (SP1Files) is extracted.

2. Search (the quickest way is to use the Search in the Explorer) in this directory for the files shlwapi.dll, msgina.dll, shell32.dll and winlogon.exe. Now either copy these to a floppy disk or burn them to a (multisession or rewritable) CD. In step 4, you will then restore the data from this CD/diskette in the recovery console and replace the faulty versions or insert completely missing files.

Procedure for replacing the files:

1. With the Windows XP CD inserted, restart your computer and press the ENTF (or F2) to enter the BIOS to get there. Search under BIOS Features Setup after the entries First Boot Device or Boot from - These entries determine the order of the boot drives. Now set these to CD-ROM, go back to the main menu and select Save & Exit Setup - Confirmation will be sent by Zwhat for Y for the US keyboard layout that is used in the BIOS. This procedure differs from motherboard to motherboard, so that you can also, for example (as shown in the screenshot), go to the Boat go and per + change the order of the entries. You can find more information in the manual for the computer or mainboard.

2. After restarting, you will receive the message Press any button to start from the CD...which you follow by pressing a button. The Windows XP installation starts and you find yourself in front of a welcome screen, which you can close by pressing Enter take note. In the following screen you will be asked (among other things) whether you would like to start the repair console - you can do this by clicking on R.

3. You will now find yourself in a DOS-like interface that prompts you to confirm your Windows installation on a specific drive (or directory) and then asks you for a password to log in.

4. Windows XP Service Pack 1 (or 2) Procedure:

As soon as this is done, you will see X:\Windows (x = drive letter) in front of you. Now insert the floppy disk (or CD) with the files shlwapi.dll, msgina.dll, shell32.dll and winlogon.exe into the drive and type in the following commands:

cd system32 (change to the System32 directory)
ren winlogon.exe winlogon.old
ren msgina.dll msgina.old
ren shell32.dll shell32.old
ren shlwapi.dll shlwapi.old

This ensures that the files to be overwritten are also saved correctly under .old-file extensions are saved. Type the drive letter (e.g. A: or F:followed by Enter) and then enter the following commands:

copy winlogon.exe X:\Windows\System32
copy msgina.dll X:\Windows\System32
copy shell32.dll X:\Windows\System32
copy shlwapi.dll X:\Windows\System32

X stands for the drive letter of the Windows installation. Please note that the folder name Windows has not been given this name in your system, which is why an adjustment is necessary.

5. Windows XP (without Service Pack) Procedure:

Now enter the commands from above (cd system32 to ren shlwapi.dll shlwapi.old) to save the files.

Make sure that the XP CD is in the drive and switch to the new drive with the command X: (X = drive letter) and Enter on this. Now tap cd i386 to access the folder with the Windows XP archive files. Now enter the following 4 commands:

expand winlogon.ex_ X:\Windows\System32
expand msgina.dl_ X:\Windows\System32
expand shell32.dl_ X:\Windows\System32
expand shlwapi.dl_ X:\Windows\System32

6. Now all files have been replaced and after a restart the login should work smoothly again!

NOTE FOR NEW PUBLICATION: This article was produced by Sandro Villinger and comes from the Windows Tweaks archive, which has been built up since the late 1990s.