Don't know if this is the correct forum but I will start here. I've had a few incidents where we lost power and I could not shut down our Windows 2003 domain controllers fashionably. When they come back up, the time between "Preparing Network Connections" and "Applying Computer Settings" seems to take the better part of 5-7 minutes. Event logs do not appear to indicate any issues. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hello, this belongs to mising DNS servers during boot. Assuming that you use AD integrated zones, DNS server relies on a running netlogon service, basically AD must be started, but this requires also the DNS server. So it takes that amount of time because of this belongings. Make sure you have a DNS server always available when rebooting machines, that is configured on teh DCs NIC.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Meinolf- The DC in question points to itself for DNS. Should I bring up the secondary DNS server first? There are multiple DCs throughout my WAN that were available while the server in question was booting. Any other thoughts? Thanks for the quick response. Sean

Hi, Domain controllers hosting AD-integrated DNS zones should not point to a single domain controller and especially only to themselves as preferred DNS for name resolution. Here are some suggestions for your reference: Hub-site domain controllers should point to DNS servers in the same site as them for preferred and alternate DNS server and then finally to itself as an additional alternate DNS server. Branch site domain controllers should configure the preferred DNS server IP address to point to a hub-site DNS server, the alternate DNS server IP address to point to an in-site DNS server or one in the closest available site, and finally to itself using the 127.0.0.1 loopback address or current static IP address. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Meinolf- The DC in question points to itself for DNS. Should I bring up the secondary DNS server first? There are multiple DCs throughout my WAN that were available while the server in question was booting. Any other thoughts? Thanks for the quick response. Sean Hello, with multiple DNS servers in a domain use all of them on the NIC, if possible don't restart all together. If the secondary DNS server is also DC the same applies as above.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Hi, How's everything going? I want to check if the suggestion has helped. If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to respond back.This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Meinolf- If I understand correctly, I should list all DNS servers as secondaries on all my domain DCs (regardless of hub or remote site)? Sean