VM crashes after joining to domain or installing AD DS role

Question

Hello,

I have recently been experiencing issues with multiple virtual machines running in a UIS environment.

After deploying the operating system (Windows Server 2025 Datacenter), I complete all configurations normally. However, when I attempt to join the machines to a domain or install the AD DS role, the system stops working properly after a reboot.

Instead of booting normally, it only shows a black screen with the automatic repair loading bar. After several forced restarts, I am able to enter Safe Mode and check the Event Viewer, where I see numerous DCOM errors (Event ID 1084) affecting multiple services.

It is impossible to repair the system. I have already tried running SFC and DISM with the restore health option, but nothing works. Additionally, every time I deploy a new VM, the same issue occurs.Hello,

I have recently been experiencing issues with multiple virtual machines running in a UIS environment.

After deploying the operating system (Windows Server 2025 Datacenter), I complete all configurations normally. However, when I attempt to join the machines to a domain or install the AD DS role, the system stops working properly after a reboot.

Instead of booting normally, it only shows a black screen with the automatic repair loading bar. After several forced restarts, I am able to enter Safe Mode and check the Event Viewer, where I see numerous DCOM errors (Event ID 1084) affecting multiple services.

It is impossible to repair the system. I have already tried running SFC and DISM with the restore health option, but nothing works. Additionally, every time I deploy a new VM, the same issue occurs.

Has anybody experienced this behaviour recently? Or have any ideas of what else can i check to get to the error?

Thank you

Answer 1

Good day Martha Flores

It sounds like the issue isn’t just a one‑off corruption but something systemic with how those VMs are being deployed in your UIS environment. The fact that every fresh VM hits the same black screen points to either a compatibility problem with the hypervisor layer or a driver/service conflict introduced during the role installation.

Those DCOM 1084 errors are usually tied to services that can’t start in Safe Mode, but seeing them across multiple services after a normal boot attempt suggests something deeper is breaking the service control manager. Since SFC and DISM didn’t help, I’d recommend checking whether your VM template image is fully patched and aligned with the latest cumulative updates for Windows Server 2025 Datacenter.

Another angle checking is the virtual hardware configuration especially the display adapter and integration services. A misconfigured GPU driver or outdated integration component can trigger the black screen/repair loop. If possible, try deploying a clean VM with minimal virtual hardware attached, then add AD DS and see if the issue repeats.

It’s also worth reviewing your UIS environment logs to confirm whether the hypervisor is throwing errors during the reboot cycle. If the host layer is interfering, no amount of in‑guest repair will fix it. As a sanity check, you could spin up the same OS in a different virtualization platform (like Hyper‑V or VMware) to see if the behavior is reproducible that’ll help narrow down whether it’s OS‑level or platform‑specific.

Server 2025 is still new, I think making sure you’ve got the latest servicing stack updates and cumulative patches applied before adding domain roles. Microsoft has already pushed a few hotfixes that address stability issues with AD DS on fresh deployments.

Give those steps a try and let me know how it goes. If this answer helps you move forward, please hit “Accept Answer” so I know it was useful