Windows 2003 Black Login Screen
We had a server at work that whenever you tried to access the console or TS into the server it just displays a black screen. You could do a ctrl-alt-del and if you tabbed just right you could log into the server. The server then functioned correctly. We finally got around to dealing with it the other day. I did the standard Google searches and checked out Microsoft's knowledgebase but had no luck. I finally broke down and called Microsoft. Turns out this is a known issue, but not enough people have called in for it to become a knowledgebase article.
The cause of this issue is because the colors for the Default user are all set to black (0 0 0). This was caused by the system drive running out of space. The disk space issue was caused by a Computer Associates product that went out of control and filled up the drive. To correct the issue I had to export the "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors" key from a working server and import it into the broken server. Once I changed the registry entries the server started displaying the login screen just like you would expect.
108 Comments:
Thank you!
Who did you call at MS to get this information?
And what if we only have one server?
Having the same issue on our server. Happened same as you said, after running out of disk space.
Can login and then it displays normally.
Can you manually edit the regkey? and if so, what is the key?
Thanks
I posted the above.
On a single server, I found you can fix this by exporting the regkey for the default, and export the same key (with working color settings) for an existing user.
then edit the default .reg file and copy/paste the settings from the user's .reg file into the one for the default.
(or edit the key entry at the top of the user .reg file to point to the default path)
Then merge the default .reg file back into the registry.
worked like a charm.
Thank You. What a life saver.
You rock!
That fix worked perfectly thanks a lot
I had the same problem and your solution worked perfectly fine. Thanks much.
Some additional information I found, if you dont have another similar machine, there are a lot of values (Background, Window, scrollbar etc) where you would need to change under the 'colors' key. A good hint to find out is to start with keys that have the value 0 0 0 (indicating black) but remember text is generally black and you probably dont want to change it.
Quick but not complete solution Change the following values
'Window' to 255 255 255(white)
'background' to 102 111 116 (dark gray)
'buttonface' to 212 208 200 (light Gray)
Hope this helps
I dont know how you figured this out but you rock! I have been scratching my head over this for days and thought I would have to rebuild.
for you one server peeps who cant export from a working server, cut and paste the following inbetween the ********* put into into notepad, save it, then change the file extention to .reg - then double click it on the bad server
**********************
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors]
"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"ActiveTitle"="10 36 106"
"AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128"
"Background"="102 111 116"
"ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181"
"ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64"
"ButtonFace"="212 208 200"
"ButtonHilight"="255 255 255"
"ButtonLight"="212 208 200"
"ButtonShadow"="128 128 128"
"ButtonText"="0 0 0"
"GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240"
"GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192"
"GrayText"="128 128 128"
"Hilight"="10 36 106"
"HilightText"="255 255 255"
"HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128"
"InactiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"InactiveTitle"="128 128 128"
"InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200"
"InfoText"="0 0 0"
"InfoWindow"="255 255 225"
"Menu"="212 208 200"
"MenuText"="0 0 0"
"Scrollbar"="212 208 200"
"TitleText"="255 255 255"
"Window"="255 255 255"
"WindowFrame"="0 0 0"
"WindowText"="0 0 0"
**********************
I am glad that other people are getting some use out of this. It only took me about 4 months to get around to calling MS to try and fix the problem. Hopefully at some point they will get a KB article published that talks about this issue.
You are the man for calling microsoft on this....
Thanks
I've also been ignoring this issue for months (hey, it worked fine, right?) until the day it crashed hard. Instead of typing in my username and password, I entered my password in the "reason why the server came down hard" text box. (That info is published in the System Log.) Now I've finally fixed it with your help. Thank you for your diligence and for posting a solution to this issue.
Same problem - now solved - thanks a million.
If this is not an issue, it soon will be!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! First hit on google too for "windows login black" and man did I need this. I KISS YOU!
I do have to say... the QA dept took a while to find a solution on TechNet, or the MS website... so I decided to just google it.. and theres your post.... Thanks! Worked perfectly... now its time to order more TS Cals.
I had the same symptoms but could not get into the console regardless of blind keystroke attempts. A Google search lead me to this post and at first I thought I hit pay dirt but alas, my pet was a different beast.
Turns out my system hard drive was beginning to fail. The OS automatically regressed the interface from DMA 5 to PIO mode and the event logs showed a couple of system files taking 120 seconds to access.
The logon screen would come back after a cold re-boot and last for a couple of hours before losing its logon prompt. Scary thoughts of viruses and other maladies were beginning to creep into my brain. However I stuck with the facts and that lead me to realize it was pending hardware failure.
I imaged the drive to a brand new one and booted into safe mode. Once the OS detected the new drive I logged out and rebooted normally. Bingo! Worked like a charm, no event errors and the problem has not re-occurred.
Hope this helps someone else that stumbles across this post. It was the first one I found while searching.
Very kool of you to have took one for us by calling Microsoft.
I had the same problem and now it's fixed thanks to you.
Thank you!
Sweet Lord - Thanks! :)
One thing worth pointing out is that you'll need to reboot the machine after importing the good key. Don't hit the power button and go down hard (which might be tempting). Use something from the resource kit, or WMI to reboot the machine remotley, otherwise you'll be looking at a black screen on the consoel when it comes back up.
I had the same problem and your fix worked fine!
I managed to log in on the black screen, changed the registry, logged out and it worked.
I didn't had to reboot the machine!!
Thanks
Thanks so much, you saved my client a swak of cash, me not having to call MS.
Thank you! I really appreciate that you share the solution
I agree, thanks for the info. I just had this happen to one a production server (Thanks MSRS and your wicked logging - 33MB files every second will fill up a hd quick).
Just for your information, the black screen still exists on the login screen only. This means it's a little unusual to log into the system, you basically have to tab through to the correct blanks. The first available is the user name, which should be administrator by default - just tab down to the next field and enter the password.
Thanks so much! This was really annoying! :) We even called Microsoft before finding this, they were clueless for the most part.
Hi,
thanks, worked liked a charme.
Thanks. It worked in my case as well.
Top bloke
Thanks heaps Kevin,
I support an email server that supports 2 time zones, strangely enough 12 hours apart. I had to come in at 11pm to reboot a server that someone couldn't fix via remote-desktop.
I found your solution which saved-the-day.
:o)
Right on the money! I searched for a few days trying to find the cause with no success. We did have a space problem on the server, but did not know that this problem was related. Thanks a million - I was dreading calling MS!
Right on. I had this problem going on and had no idea how to fix it. Thanks for doing the legwork
You did a solid by posting this. Way to go.....
Thanks mate...that one was a beauty
Men, Thaks, IT WORKS, just fine and I didn't have to reboot my Server (W2K3 SP1 on HP PROLIANT ML370).
Thanx a lot man,.... youre a "life saver",..... this has been costing me serious over hours
Thanks for this, you saved me from a world of pain. Can't believe this isn't a KB article.
Cheers,
Add me to the list... I've been logging in with my eyes closed for well over a year now - ...told the client it was a security feature.
Maybe someone should forward this url to MS Support... looks like a few occurances (who bothered to comment here) every month...I'd say justifies an MS article!
Thanks!
Thank you for saving someone's life! If I had to try loging in to that black screen one more time, I would have...
Thanks Many!
It is now a MS Knowledge base Item:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;906510
to get around not having another server you can cut and paste the reg file to a text file as noted above or export the reg key from another user...
mguzzy
like others have said before...
You rock!
Thank you
thanks for post this fix! fantastic
Just adding the props for posting this fix. Real simple to fix just a pain to figure out what to do in the first place.
I made a .reg file and put it on the desktop just in case it happens again!
I'll add my thanks and register another instance of this problem occurring. Microsoft, if you're listening, you need to make KB article 906510 a hit when searching for Windows 2003 Black Logon Screen.
Perfect; resolved the problem a treat! ;-)
This was brilliant - it was vital for us as it was a TS/Citrix server!!!! Thanks unlimited.
this just totally saved me. thank you.
Excelente resultado. Muchas gracias, hace meses que tenía este problema y no lo podía solucionar.
I have been ignoring this poblem for months. It was annoying but I didnt use the server that often. Now that I have converted the server from its old hardware to a VMWARE image, I wanted to fix it. Thanks for your solution. Great help!
Worked like a charm. Thanks very much for sharing that info!
Thanks sooooo much
This makes me look real good with my team
I have already shared the info with our support team
Thank You!
Had this exact problem and used the recommended solution....................Worked perfectly.
Cool!
Awesome post! Thanks for all your help!! God bless you!
We were even thinking of reinstalling the OS. Because previous shutdown was unexpected, we weren't able to logon the server ("Why did the computer shutdown unexpectedly?" question and the dropdown box below that message were invisible). After appliying your fix, we could see the message and logged on normally.
Thank you sooo much!
You guys should be fired for not knowing your OS drive was full.
Thanks for posting this info. Our drive filled up when another admin accidentally opened our server as an open relay. We fixed the problem as soon as we found out, but a few days of returned (failed to send spam) filled our drive and caused a number of problems including the black screen of death. This solution should be on knowledgebase. Anyhow, I just want to thank ou for posting this again.
Microsoft can kiss my grits. Yay Flyhpr!
Same issue:
Dell Server Citrix Metaframe XP
Didn't have to reboot at all.
THANKS! (yes, i'm yelling - grin)
Thank you very much.
I also had the same problem after running out of disk space. Your procedure fixed my problem. I did not have to reboot to make it take effect. Thanks!
It seems I have the same problem except even when blindly logging in, don't get into the system. A computer icon appears on the black screen and it stays that way indefinitely. I can't log into safe mode or access the OS drive over the network because it is not shared. I can access the second partition. I would like to somehow access the C(windows) drive to delete some unnecessary files but the server has a RAID 1 array and I can't access them from DOS. Ugh. Any ideas?
Just a heads up - this is a great fix! I was able to fix this in under a minute by opening regedit on a server that was OK and then using regedit to connect to the network registry of the machine having the problem. Then its just a drag and drop!
If I'd only found your fix 5 hours ago I'd be much happier. :)
Thanks!
Hi this is dev, thanks alot this really help in solving my problem and i got a veryyyyyyy happy customer.
Thanks!
Thanks!
You're a star for posting this up Kevin. We've been having this issue for weeks now and MS is no help as usual.
Thanks!
Lorinda
Worked instantly! Thx!
Worked instantly! Thx!
Wow ! And : Thanks !
Perfect!!! Thanks!!!
LOL...
Are you aware of the amount of time I've just saved here :-)
when you come to Denmark there will be a cold beer waiting for you.
Obrigado
This is great information. Thank you. It save me a lot of time
Thanks!
o.k. I am number 76 but I really have to say thank you :-)
Thanks Mate - You are a legend!!
Excellent! Saved loads of time, many thanks.
Your mother should be very proud of you!
Thanks, saved our bacon big time.
Thanks so much. That is a great help.
Hello Help homeless children!
buy [url=http://phentermine.alldating.org/phentermine.htm]phentermine[/url] online
phentermine
Bye
Hi. It is a nice site!
viagra
viagra
Don't delete
Hello. Cool!
Visit my site viagra
buy http://delta-space.info/phentermine.htm viagra online
Thanks.
Hi. Nice!
Visit my site phentermine
buy http://freeunixhs.info/phentermine.htm phentermine online
Thanks.
Hi Super site!
buy viagra
cheap viagra online
G'night
Ja das ist fantastish!
buy viagra
cheap viagra online
G'night
Das ist fantastish!
buy viagra,
cheap http://viagra.alldating.org/viagra.htm online
Bye
Thanks also, very grateful for this one, saved my A..E!
Thanks Kevin
It works like a charm. We struggle for a couple of days and when we got used to the blank screen, we decided to search for solution and vwallaaa, there is the solution.
Mokone Tsiloane
thanks you kevin,
i live in lebanon and today i had the same problem with my server at work (my disk was full because of the symantec antivirus which write a huge log file)
many thanks
Nadeem kahwaji
Let me be the 92nd person to thank you. This fixed 2 of our servers we were planning on rebuilding. You easily saved me 3-4 hours of work with one posting. Blogs are cool.
This was probably the best little bit of info and saved me lots of time.
Thanks
94th in line...let's go for triple digits!
Muchos Gracias from Canada!
Worked Great Dude, thanks!!!!
Worked for me. We want a KB!!!
Most excellent! Thanks for posting this in a logical manner!
Thanks a lot!!! works perfect now i used the regkeys that are posted above.
You my friend are a saint. We though the server was seriously hosed after running out of disk space...
From another Anonymous System Admin... THANKS!!!
Our client was saying that we have a virus on the server, our 3rd level was saying that we should restage the VM, they got the backup team on the call to check the good backups, then i found this awesome fix.
Thank youuuuu Kevin!
Great post, this one really threw me for a loop. Thanks!
thank you.. i had that problem on one of my mission critical servers and was about to spend the night rebuilding it.. with your suggestion i fixed the video problem in 1 minute.
thanks again
UffDa... It worked for us as well.
After a boot, we had a yellow triagle with a black exclamation point and couldn't see the login fields. If you press Enter to acknowledge the "!", then press CTRL-ALT-DEL, now enter your password. Server should operate somewhat normal.
Microsoft has posted a KB now. Here it is:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906510
Thanks guys, saved me a lot of time reinstalling the whole machine.
Alex
Hi Guys,
you saved me a lot of time :-)
I never thought that this would be such a simple reason ...
Hardy -> Van der CHEIB
Thank you very much guys it worked for me.
Post a Comment
<< Home