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Hi, lately the domain controller freezes when some editing to the GPO occur. I think the problem has been present since the schema was upgraded to update from W2K3 SE to W2K3 R2 EE. The server that acts as a domain controller also hosts DHCP, DNS as well as Active Directory services. When the server "freezes" the logon screen (the Ctl+Alt-Del screen) dissappears from the screen, so logging in locally becomes impossible, terminal server connections (remote desktop) also hang, but DNS and DHCP services continue to run, Active Directory stops to a screeching halt. There's only one DC at the moment, but the issue was present when there were two DCs active. The server has all the primary roles, and is a global catalog server. Any hints on where i should look at? Thanks a lot in advance.

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For — a focused, practical checklist to isolate a DC hang that appears when editing Group Policy. was right to push diagnostics; the steps below expand that idea into targeted captures and non-destructive tests so the root cause can be proven instead of guessed.

  • Correlate the freeze to timestamps and collect the System, Application and Directory Service event logs around those times. Look specifically for Group Policy, FRS/DFS and LSASS/Netlogon errors. See Microsoft guidance on Group Policy troubleshooting: .

  • Reproduce the problem while capturing process/file activity with Procmon and viewing processes with Process Explorer. Filter Procmon for accesses to SYSVOL and Policy GUID folders to see which process blocks or errors during the edit. Procmon and Process Explorer are here: Procmon, Process Explorer.

  • Check SYSVOL/Policy folder accessibility and replication health (NTFRS/DFSR). Permission or replication failures often show only when a GPO write occurs. Microsoft’s SYSVOL troubleshooting notes are helpful: .

  • Rule out file-scanning/AV interference by temporarily excluding NTDS, SYSVOL and Policy folders from real-time scanning while testing.

  • If a process (lsass.exe, ntfrs/dfs, svchost) appears hung, capture a full process dump for offline analysis; ProcDump is designed for that: ProcDump.

If these steps don’t reveal the cause, gather the time-correlated event logs, Procmon capture and any process dumps and escalate to vendor or Microsoft support — those artifacts are what engineers need to diagnose a hard hang.

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Member Avatar for DimaYasny

first of all try posting this on petri.co.il

also check the DC with dcdiag and netdiag

Member Avatar for Member #360339

first of all try posting this on petri.co.il

also check the DC with dcdiag and netdiag

Thanks, will do that...

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