This is a repost of a post from an old blog, made on July 17, 2012, that used to be on:
http://adminramble.com/windows-2008-server-hangs-applying-user-settings-services-working/
Original post:
Today I had a problem with one of my test servers that was running Windows 2008, I was doing some work with IIS and certificates and after rebooting I wasn’t able to connect to it with Remote Desktop, also I wasn’t able to connect to the web sites that were on it, but it responded to ping requests.
When I tried to connect to it locally, after entering username and password it would just stay on the “Applying user settings” screen.
The solution to this is very simple:
- Either wait for you server to eventually finish the logon process or reboot it in the safe mode with F8
- Open registry editor with regedit
- Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HTTP and create the following Multi-string value: DependOnService
- Double click the entry, enter CRYPTSVC in the Value Data field and click OK
- Reboot your server to Normal mode
You can also solve the problem with the Hotfix available from Microsoft.
NOTE: the KB article states that this happens on Windows Vista and Server 2008 with Service Pack 2, but in my case I had Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 1.
Thanks, this saved my day.