We have a (partly) decommissioned Windows 2003 server (of year 2000 vintage) which has been running fine until I had to turn it off for the first time in months due to a planned power outage.
The server boots and responds to ping, but the GUI shows it's stuck at "Applying Security Policy" (over 12 hours each on two attempts). I cannot connect with Remote Desktop, but I can connect with Services.msc and remote registry etc which is strange. I get "Access Denied" if I try and access the Event Log remotely (as domain admin). All normal services appear to be running OK.
I'm wondering if it's looking for, or dependent on one of our other recently decommissioned servers has we have recently decommissioned a PDC and it's likely this is the first time this machine has rebooted since decommissioning the old PDC.
Where would I start with trying to diagnose this problem? Please be aware I'm not a sysadmin – I'm a web developer, so avoid funky acronyms if possible 😉
Best Answer
Boot with the network cable unplugged.
Without the server plugged the server will boot without trying to connect with the DNS/DC that is no longer available.
Once the server is booted log in with either local credentials or cached domain credentials (if there are any) and edit the network configuration removing reference to any resources that are unavailable.
Reboot with the network cable and login