I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 that hangs every day between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM. I guess this is what's called a soft hang. If I'm already logged on I can move the mouse cursor, click on shortcuts and open the Desktop Explorer. The server will respond to pings, but the shares are all missing except for netlogon and sysvol. No errors appear in the event viewer during that time frame with the exception of FRS errors. During the day the FRS service works perfectly.
Although the Desktop Explorer can be started, nothing else will run, including the Restart button. If a command window is open I can type the shutdown command, but it won't run.
I ran performance monitor and observed that the Free System Page Entries are at 33,555,521.
My best guess is that some process runs during the early morning and locks it up. No lockups happen during working hours. Antivirus scans have been disabled and no third party runs on any schedule. SCOM is not installed. The server is a domain controller/file server.
Has this happened to anyone else?