I'm having a problem with my display settings on a Windows server. The desktop is set to a black background where I can see the icons, but I can't read any text. I can not see the box in the Display properties to change it back. I also booted in Safe mode and have the same problem. I logged into the machine (not the domain) and have the correct display, but when I look a the registry keys for Current_User\Color, it's missing about half of the registry keys and will not let me create or import new ones. I believe my problem is a registry error, but how can I fix this issue if I can't import new settings for the user id that is causing the problem? I also have tried deleting that user profile as well, but it just creates a new one with the damaged display. Now any new user that logs onto the server gets a profile created with the damaged display.

Sounds like \default user may have been overwritten. You might give this a try.Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors]"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200""ActiveTitle"="10 36 106""AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128""Background"="58 110 165""ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181""ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64""ButtonFace"="212 208 200""ButtonHilight"="255 255 255""ButtonLight"="212 208 200""ButtonShadow"="128 128 128""ButtonText"="0 0 0""GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240""GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192""GrayText"="128 128 128""Hilight"="10 36 106""HilightText"="255 255 255""HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128""InactiveBorder"="212 208 200""InactiveTitle"="128 128 128""InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200""InfoText"="0 0 0""InfoWindow"="255 255 225""Menu"="212 208 200""MenuText"="0 0 0""Scrollbar"="212 208 200""TitleText"="255 255 255""Window"="255 255 255""WindowFrame"="0 0 0""WindowText"="0 0 0""MenuHilight"="210 210 255""MenuBar"="212 208 200"Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]

Thanks for the reply Dave, but unfortunately I have tried looking at the registry settings. The id with the problem display is an admin account with admin rights to the domain and the server itself. It will not let me import registry settings or create new ones. When I look at Currnent User\Control Panel\Colors, it only has abut 5 keys listed, but when I try to create new ones it give me an error and will not let me. I even tried listing that id on the C: drive and giving it admin rights and it still will not work. When I look at the default display settings for all other users they are ok. But again if a new id logs into the server, they get the bad display settings. Is there a way that I can force all users to pickup the default display settings? Under HKey_Users\Default\Control Panel\Colors the settings are good but it's still not working. Would I have to make some changes to the GPO? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is for the system account aka when no one is logged on.The \default user registry hive is in \Documents and Settings\Default User\NTUSER.DATI think you're going to have to sort out the permissions problem before doing anything else. Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows]

Hi, Please try to do a in-place upgrade to repair the system to check whether you can resolve the issue. How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816579 Best Regards, Vincent Hu