Forum Discussion
Blank screen after logging into Win 2016 Essentials server
I've been running Windows 2016 server essentials for about 2 years. 2 days ago I logged in and was presented with a black screen and a powershell window and no icons or taskbar.
Using CTRL+Shift+Del I was able to get the task manager up and can run a limited number of programs through an Admin PS windows and/or by using the tools section in msconfig.
However, if I run start-process "ms-settings:", from PS I get the following error:
start-process : This command cannot be run due to the error: The wait operation timed out.
At line:1 char:1
+ start-process "ms-settings:"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Start-Process], InvalidOperationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StartProcess
Command
I have checked the event logs and see nothing much out of the ordinary and there do not have appeared to have been any new updates, with the last one being on the 17 July.
I've searched on the internet for the problem and all reports and suggestions I have seen appear to apply to RDP yet I am at the actual server and RDP is not the issue for me.
When searching the logs and Server dashboard I found two issues.
- A number of the Windows Server Essentials services had not started - I've started them manually.
- WDS is not running and errors when trying to restart although I do not think this is the issue - but am open to correction.
I've run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth with no problems however, sfc said there was errors but they seem to all be related to Windows defender.
This is a production server so I have not had a chance to reboot it since starting the WSE services but will do that this evening. In the meantime, can anyone point me in the direction I should be looking to resolve this as I'm out of ideas at the moment.
Thanks.
4 Replies
If it is still functional the safest and best thing you can do at this point is to stand up a new one for replacement ASAP.
Dave Patrick Thanks for the advice.
I've rebooted in safe mode and the problem is still there so I'm now running check disk to see if that can tell me anything.
Looking at your response, are you suggesting this is hardware related? I have been thinking along the lines of running a recovery but it seems like such a drastic step and while it's still operational would prefer to troubleshoot and find out what is wrong, if possible.
Looking at your response, are you suggesting this is hardware related?
No, not really, just that it is broken and in a very fragile state. The best course is to stand up a new one for replacement ASAP. Things like chkdsk, or repair install may just as easily tip it over the edge and gone as fix anything.
