I have a critical issue that seems very similar to the one at:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21331824.html?query=network+connections+empty&clearTAFilter=trueI also was working with a web-based application that required changes to be made to the setting "Impersonate a client after authentication" in the group policy editor. It had me add a specific user that the application needed. I changed this setting from "not defined" to include this user. Aparently it also should have had me add some system, service and administrator accounts too. Further, like a dummy, I made this change in the wrong place. I made it in the security settings in Domain Controller Security Policy or Domain Security Policy (I forget which), rather than in the local computer group policy. I'm working on a Windows 2003 domain controller.
Everything seemed okay until the server was rebooted. Now several key services won't start, including the network connections service. It just hangs at 'starting...'. As a result, the network connections window is empty, so there's no way to edit network settings like DNS and such. The server won't connect to the network of course.
I cannot get into Domain Controller Security Policy or Domain Security Policy on this server. It gives the error that I have insufficient rights. I can, however, get into the group policy editor. When I look at the impersonate a client after authentication setting it did, indeed, get changed to the specific user I has specified earlier. I was able to remove that user so that this setting is, once again, undefined. This didn't solve the problem though. I tried to add Administrators, LOCAL SERVICE, and Administrator, but found that I can't add any users. When I try, I can actually see the users by browsing or searching AD, but when I try to finish adding I get the error "there are no more endpoints available from the endpoint mapper".
Since this won't connect to the network, I can only work on this server to resolve this. Yet I don't seem to have the rights needed to make certain changes. It may be that the network connections service won't start because COM+ won't start (also hangs showsing "starting"). But it all seems to stem from this impersonation setting.
We're really stuck with this server, so any help is appreciated!
