I have a server which runs Windows Server 2008R2 and Exchange 2010. Yesterday it had several months worth of Windows Patches installed. Following the install the server rebooted and the console has a message on it which says Stage 3 of 3, Preparing to configure Windows, do not turn off your computer. I can RDP to the server and everything looks normal. We have a second identical box (Part of a DAG) which does not exhibit the same issue I can see the following file which is dated back to 13/06/2010 c:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml.01cb0ae9142a0d9b I have seen various blog entries regarding removing pending.xml but not seen anything related to pending.xml.xxxxx

Have you tried rebooting your computer again? You can try to rename pending.xml.01... to something else for example pending.xml.bak and reboot, and check how it behaves Also read this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821With kind regards Krystian Zieja http://www.projectnenvision.com Follow me on twitter My Blog

Hi, As mentioned by Krystian, try to rename pending.xml.01cb0ae9142a0d9b to pending.old and reboot to see if issue persists. System may need to install some updates again after reboot. Try to install them again to see if issue reoccurs. Also a SFC /scannow may help if issue still exists.Shaon Shan |TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com

If there is any progress please let us know.Shaon Shan |TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com

I rebooted the server and the problem has gone away, I can't say that this is really a satisfactory conclusion to be honest, I'd like to have an idea why it happened, what cured it and how to prevent it from happenning again. Brett

Thank you for sharing the result. As the issue is self-resolved, we may not able to find out the exact cause. Sometimes Windows Update changes system configuration which causes a temp confliction which will be fixed or reset by a reboot. If there is anything we can help in future please just create a new post.Shaon Shan |TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com

I actually just sent a Control-Alt-Delete to the screen and it brought me to a login prompt...