Windows 2003 Server hangs at "Applying Computer Settings" during start

[pduda]

Hi All,

We had two of our Win2K3 servers rebooted yesterday and they both appeared to "hang" at the "Applying Computer Settings" message when starting. After about 30 minutes the login screen appeared and we were good to go. We have seen this happen on one other server before.

I searched the Internet and the only cause/solution I found for this was related to APC Powerchute software which we are not running.

Has anybody else encountered this? If so, do you know what caused it and how to prevent it in the future?

Thanks,

PD

 

[TekJunkie01]

Use the Verbose Security Status Messages setting. Very helpful in troubleshooting slow startup, shutdown, logon, or logoff behaviour. You will be able to see where you are getting stuck. I have only used this on XP, so procede with caution. You know, the normal regestry editing disclaimers and all........

Open your registry and find or create this key:- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Policies -> System To enable verbose status messages create a new DWORD value called "verbosestatus" and set it to "1".

An additional value called "DisableStatusMessages" forces status messages to be disabled, make sure this value does not exist or is set to "0".

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Registry Settings System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPolicies System]
Value Name: verbosestatus Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value) Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = enable verbose status)

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPolicies System] Value Name: disablestatusmessages Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value) Value Data: (1 = default, 0 = enable verbose status)

A+, N+, MCSA:Messaging, MCSE

 

[pduda]

TekJunkie01,

Thanks for the recommendation. We won't be able to make any changes like that until the weekend.

I was hoping someone might have had a silver bullet for this, but I guess you're method should tell us what is happening.

Regards,
PD

 

[kanee]

One thing you can quickly check is to make sure that your servers that are effected by this issue are pointing correctly to your AD DNS servers in their TCP/IP properties.

 

[pytchley]

Are you using APC software for your ups. Versions below 7.0 will cause servers to hang for ages on a reboot. Go into safe mode and delete the APC sevice. You can get the latest software from the APC web site.

 

[drew1701d]

hello! have you checked the event logs, as they are the key to all your woes at startup. I had the same problem and it turned out to be a DNS and DFS issue, check to see where the logs hang up, obviously a service is not starting up quick enough so a dependency for another service is not there so the server waits and waits and either times out or succeeds

"I'm certifiable, not certified. It just means my answers are from experience...not a book