Member Avatar for leelumb

Hi
I have several pcs that when they boot up they hang on the applying settings screen, these are windows 2000 boxes with no hardware changes. The only thing we changed was the dns but it's only a few pcs that are booting up in 20 minutes. The pcs log on to our domain for the active directory. Anyone know what it hangs and how I can resolve this issue?
Thanks

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Given changed DNS and only a subset of machines hang at "Applying settings", this most commonly points to DNS/domain-controller discovery timeouts. Active Directory clients locate DCs via DNS SRV records; if a workstation’s configured DNS cannot resolve those SRV records (for example it points at a public/ISP resolver), the logon process will wait for name resolution and Netlogon, which shows up as a long "Applying settings" delay. The steps below show how to confirm and fix that.

Run these checks on an affected PC from a command prompt:

ipconfig /all
nslookup -type=SRV _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.<yourdomain>
nltest /dsgetdc:<yourdomain>   (Support Tools)
ping <your-domain-controller>
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns

If ipconfig shows a public/ISP DNS or the SRV query returns no DCs, the client cannot find AD records and will time out. nltest/dcdiag (on servers) help verify DC/DNS health; both are in the Windows 2000 Support Tools.

Fixes and targeted troubleshooting:

  • Ensure domain members use an internal DNS server (usually a DC) as their primary DNS. Do not point clients directly to public DNS for AD name resolution. Configure the internal DNS to forward external queries to ISP/public resolvers.
  • Update DHCP or static configs on the affected PCs and reboot them.
  • Check for logon scripts, mapped drives, printers or unreachable servers in GPOs that can block logon until a network timeout completes.
  • As suggested, test with a fresh domain account and a local account to separate profile issues from network/DNS issues. Check Event Viewer (System/Application) for Netlogon/GroupPolicy errors and timestamps to pinpoint the stall step.

Quick checklist: compare ipconfig /all between a working and a slow PC; verify SRV records; fix DNS settings; then re-test. If DNS and DC discovery look correct but the delay persists, run Support Tools on the client and DC and capture the Event Viewer timestamps for deeper analysis.

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Member Avatar for dr gummi

do you use roaming profiles? How long does it take to log in a new account with no history? Why did you change the DNS?

Member Avatar for leelumb

do you use roaming profiles? How long does it take to log in a new account with no history? Why did you change the DNS?

No roaming profiles and we changed the dns because certain websites were coming up as not found but when we changed our dns the websites worked.

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