Windows Server Black Logon Screen

VERY strange problem
Hit ctrl-alt-del to logon console or rdp to server. Just get a black screen with difficult to see underscores where the logon fields should be. We were able to tab around on the screen and enter logon name and password and get logged on. (or input logon credentials into RDP before connecting.) Once logged on, everything was normal.

We had two servers, both of which happened to be print servers, both experienced this same issue at the same time. Windows 2003 R2 SP2 running as ESX3.5 virtual machine.


Cause
As strange as the problem is, it's root cause is strangely simple.
The display colors for the default user have all been changed to black.
After a tedious internet search we learned about someone elses experience with this exact problem: http://www.flyhpr.com/blog/2005/02/windows-2003-black-login-screen.htm.
They said they called Microsoft and this is a known problem but supposedly they didn't get enough calls about it to make it a KB article. (???that is also a very strange answer, by the way.) The article goes on to say Microsoft told them this issue was caused by the system drive running out of space.


Solution

Change the colors back to normal. copy the clipped lines below
and save a .REG file. Run it on the server with the problem.
-------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors]
"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"ActiveTitle"="10 36 106"
"AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128"
"Background"="102 111 116"
"ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181"
"ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64"
"ButtonFace"="212 208 200"
"ButtonHilight"="255 255 255"
"ButtonLight"="212 208 200"
"ButtonShadow"="128 128 128"
"ButtonText"="0 0 0"
"GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240"
"GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192"
"GrayText"="128 128 128"
"Hilight"="10 36 106"
"HilightText"="255 255 255"
"HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128"
"InactiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"InactiveTitle"="128 128 128"
"InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200"
"InfoText"="0 0 0"
"InfoWindow"="255 255 225"
"Menu"="212 208 200"
"MenuText"="0 0 0"
"Scrollbar"="212 208 200"
"TitleText"="255 255 255"
"Window"="255 255 255"
"WindowFrame"="0 0 0"
"WindowText"="0 0 0"
-------------------------------------------------------