Question: Hey everybody I am having a wierd issue with my application server. This is in a multiple server environment and all other servers are working fine. The Server machine with the trouble is running Windows Server 2008R2, quad 2.5Ghz processor, 8 GB RAM, Raid 0+1 (4 seagate 500GB hard drives). The only role installed is the Windows BackUp. This machine is used for a management application that is accessed by 20-30 users 24-7. Problem is that when I try to log in and when I hit control-alt-delete to get the log on prompt all I see is the Desktop background, which is a solid color, but no icons, no taskbar/start menu, can't control-alt-delete to open task manager, can't move the mouse-but can see it on the screen. No way to get to a command window. With all that is not working on the user side of it the management application is apparently running and doing fine because we can log on to the management system and work. Have not pressed the reset button or held the power button yet, but fear that might be the only way to restart at this point. Anybody got any ideas or suggested fixes??? Thanks!!!

use terminal services manager to see if there is a disconnected session and log it off or reset. then try to login again. if that doesn't work can you login remotely (rdp)? at lease you could exit the application and do a graceful shutdown/ restart instead of hitting the reset button Roy Mayo | MCTS • MCSE | USA

Hello – My first inclination is to grab a dump of Winlogon to see what is going on under the hood but that may not be the most practical approach over the forums:) Is this a "one time" thing or does it reproduce all the time? Just for clarification, the blank background happens after you enter your credentials and press enter, correct? Additionally are you able to connect to the box over the network using \\<servername>\<share>. Can you Remote Desktop into the machine when it's in this state? Thanks for the additional information. Ron Stock - Microsoft Online Community Support 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. ”

Thanks for the reply. I had to hold the power button. Hated to do it, but had no other way. To answer your questions no the machine could not be remoted to, but I could connect to shared folders and use the application on all client machines. This has not happeded again...??? Wierd!!! Thanks again for the resonses!!

Htech – Thanks for the feedback. It almost sounds like Explorer.exe crashed. If you encounter the problem again you might want to setup AD-PLUS to generate a dump file. We will debug it for you. You could also download Process Explorer and check for any non-Microsoft DLLs loading in the Explorer process. This is all assuming that Explorer crashed. The tool is located at - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx Best Regards, Ron Stock - Microsoft Online Community Support 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. ”