Windows Server - unresponsive lockout screen - No remote access on Server - How to recover/restart

Asked By Jim Helfer

01-Feb-10 12:00 PM

I have a server with an unresponsive console (but otherwise seems to be
operating) running Server 2003 32-bit. Ctl-Al-Del does not work and logon
window is frozen.  I can connect remotely, but only get a blank desktop
screen (no login or desktop or menu).

I would like to restart this machine as cleanly as possible, as it is a
file server and (as a side effect of this) I am not sure I am getting any
good backups.  In this case, I really need to find a better way to recover
operation of this server besides just power-cycling it.

What I have tried is shutdown command: shutdown /s /f  /m \\172.16.16.1 ,
which tells me that it has successful completed (if I try it a second time,
it returns an error that the another shutdown command has been queued).
However, the server does not shut down.   I have also tried to kil Explorer on
that server, but that does not seem to "take" either

The other error I see in the system event log is many occurrences of this:

Event Type:	Error
Event Source:	Srv
Event Category:	None
Event ID:	2000
Date:		2/1/2010
Time:		11:39:36 AM
User:		N/A
Computer:	WTW-FILE
Description:
The server's call to a system service failed unexpectedly.

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to regain control of this server.

Jim Helfer
WTW Architects
Pittsburgh PA

01-Feb-10 12:24 PM

You could try using psexec from Microsofts Sysinternals suite to remotely
execute commands on the server.

You could execute command prompt remotely and then try to troubleshoot the
problem.

Try shutdown -a to cancel qeued shutdown and then start another one.

Also, when you connect remotely can you invoke Taskmanager with
Ctrl+Alt+Esc? If you can do that, you could try killing one process at a
time, first trying to kill all but critical system processes ... Maybe some
program or a service is preventing the qeued shutdown to shut the system
down.
If this doesnt help, try killing system processes ...
Killing the right svchost.exe should trigger a shutdown (like in the Sasser
case) ...

Just some thoughts, I am not sure this will actually do the job ...

01-Feb-10 02:54 PM

No to  Ctl-Alt-Esc, I am afraid, keyboard is locked out. But I followed your
advice and I am using PSEXEC right now, and checking out the task list, and I
think you are right that there is a program or service that is holding up
the queue (perhaps stuck in it is shutdown process).

Thanks
Jim

01-Feb-10 08:19 PM

Hello Jim,

The managed support service of the microsoft.public.windows.server.general
is now available instead on General forum:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/threads.
Would you please repost the question in the forum with the Windows Live ID
used to access your Subscription benefits? Our engineers will assist you in
the new platform.

The web link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ms788697.aspx
introduces more information about the migration. In the future, please post
your Print-related questions directly to the forums. If you have any
questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us: tngfb@microsoft.com

David Shen
Microsoft Online Technical Support