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exMSFT's avatar
exMSFT
Copper Contributor
Jun 21, 2019

Server 2008 unresponsive after WIndows Update

We've got a Windows Server 2008 that we're planning to migrate from in a few weeks.  Unfortunately, yesterday when Windows Update froze and the system was rebooted, not much works.  We can login norm...
windows server
Dave Patrick's avatar
Dave Patrick
MVP
Jun 21, 2019

Hopefully there are other domain controllers where can seize roles, perform metadata cleanup and move on.

 

 

exMSFT's avatar
exMSFT
Copper Contributor
Jun 21, 2019

Unfortunately, they lost their other DC a while back (hardware failure) and never replaced it (small organization didn't have $$$ for redundancy.)  If I can get them back up and get their data off, I'll make sure to get them setup correctly - probably offloading most of it to the cloud, but we'll see.

 

I let it sit there for a while and noticed that slowly some services, like DHCP are starting and I can now open a privileged Command Prompt and even Control Panel.  I'm thinking that an update got corrupted and I can uninstall it and see what happens?  Unfortunately, I feel like I'm shooting in the dark since they logged in and "Last Known Config" is no longer an option and most of the "normal" modes of fixing this haven't worked.

  • Dave Patrick's avatar
    Dave Patrick
    MVP
    Jun 21, 2019

    Better option is if it eventually starts up then I stand up a new one ASAP

     

    I'd use dcdiag / repadmin tools to verify health correcting all errors found before starting. Then stand up a new one (no newer that 2016 in case FRS is still used) , patch it fully, license it, join existing domain, add active directory domain services, promote it also making it a GC (recommended), transfer FSMO roles over, transfer pdc emulator role, use dcdiag / repadmin tools to again verify health, when all is good you can decommission / demote old one.

     

     Other options are to verify system and servicing health by running;

    sfc /scannow

    also system update readiness tool

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/947821

    Then check for errors in;
    %SYSTEMROOT%\Logs\CBS\CheckSUR.log

     

    • exMSFT's avatar
      exMSFT
      Copper Contributor
      Jun 21, 2019

      Dave PatrickI was thinking dcdiag now that it might be up partially.  The plan was to migrate to 2019, but that's 3 steps from 2008.  I was also thinking Azure.  We'll see.  I just need to get this into a good state to move forward.

       

      When I finally got into services, I saw that some services seem to be stuck at "Starting."

       

      I've already done an SFC /scannow and it showed that it fixed errors.  Maybe doing it again will help.  I'll also look at the Readiness Tool and see if that helps.

       

      Thanks for the suggestions.

      • exMSFT's avatar
        exMSFT
        Copper Contributor
        Jun 21, 2019

        Was able to run the dcdiag an the only errors it's showing is some services not started.  Everything else looks okay from that perspective.  Trying to run the System Update Readiness Tool.

         

        Oh... and here's the kicker now that I can see services..... they've got Exchange on this box too.  (The dcdiag's only errors were about Exchange services, so I'm looking through those.)  Most of the services have started, but the rest are just slowly getting going.  I guess they didn't know that everything was on the same server. :(

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