2008 R2 - RPC Server Unavailable

Question

Fresh install of 2008 R2 Domain Controller. Unable to connect via RDP, receiving "RPC Server is unavailable" with RDP and when trying to force replication. I have checked my SRV records with both DNS servers, they appear normal. RPC service is running. Not blocked by firewall (service disabled) What could be causing this and how do I fix it?

Solution 1

Oops. This is easily answered by GPO incompatibilities between 2003 and 2008. 2003 GP applied to a 2008 server eliminates some core functions because the settings are not available in 2k3. 2008 has an ADMX template structure. 2003 relies on ADM

Solution 2

When you say "Not blocked by firewall (service disabled)" I wonder what you mean, specifically.

If you stop the "Windows Firewall" service the machine will begin filtering incoming traffic very restrictively (see this TechNet blog post for details). If you really don't want the Windows Firewall to be enabled you should disable it using "supported" methods so that you don't fall victim to unwanted restrictive filtering.

Comments

[Seth]

my question was about rpc server. this is not a production server, im not worried about feeling victimized.

[Seth]

Enabled/Disabled Rpc server stills fails. I may should have taken your advice. As now Firewall says it's blocking all incoming connections. OMG I dont understand what is the problem?

[Seth]

Wow, not liking 2008. Somehow a reboot returned to normal, can ping and replicate now. But still no Remote Desktop....

[Maoz Zadok]

Windows 2k3 firewall GPOs don't always map perfectly to Windows 2008. Why is remote desktop blocked?