A Black screen with an exclamation icon appears when logging in to a Windows 2003 virtual machine

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• The Windows splash screen comes up but it displays a black screen and an exclamation point
• You cannot see the log in screen
• This issue can be seen either on VirtualCenter or ESX host
• When the Windows virtual machine boots and reaches the logon screen, the screen appears black
• Pressing Alt-Ctrl-Del displays the password field and when you enter the password, you are able to log in to the virtual machine
• You experience this behavior on a virtual machine remote console and during a RDP session to the affected virtual machine

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x

Resolution

Warning: Ensure to backup the registry before making any changes suggested in this article.

 

The black screen with an exclamation mark appears when the colors for the default user are all set to black (0 0 0).

 

It can also be caused by the system drive running out of space.

 

To resolve the color issue:

1. Connect to the virtual machine using an RDP or a console session.
2. Log in as a user with administrative privileges.
3. Click Start > Run.
4. Type regedit.
5. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors.
6. Export the key to the virtual machine.
7. Double click the .reg file. The changes are added to the registry entry.
8. Restart the virtual machine for the changes to take effect.

When the screen is black, it can effect RDP connections and result in the inability to use the guest on a visual console. If this occurs, follow these steps:

1. Add the virtual disk from the guest to a helper virtual machine (running the same operating system) and give it a drive letter within Windows on the helper virtual machine.
2. Click Start > Run.
3. Type regedit.
4. Highlight HKEY_USERS, click File, and choose Load Hive.
5. Navigate to the newly added drive and in the system32/config directory (for example, e:\windows\system32\config\), select the file default and load it. Enter a temporary name such as Temp.
6. There is now a folder in HKEY_USERS called Temp. Navigate to the subfolder Control Panel\Colors.
7. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors.
8. Right-click on Colors, click Export and choose a name and location.
9. Open the exported file (.reg) in a text editor.
10. Edit the line [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors] line to match the path of your temporary hive ([HKEY_USERS\Temp\Control Panel\Colors]).
11. Save the file, then right-click on the .reg file and choose Merge. This corrects the loaded Hive.
12. In regedit, press F5 to refresh the registry. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\Temp\Control Panel\Colors and verify that the contents have been corrected.
13. Highlight the Temp folder path,click File, and choose Unload Hive.
14. Remove the virtual disk from the helper virtual machine.
    
    Caution: Be sure to remove the virtual disk from the virtual machine. Do not remove it from the disk.
15. Attach the virtual disk to the original virtual machine and power on the original virtual machine.