Windows 2008 R2: Unable to open server manager or event viewer Error:System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException

One of the Windows 2008 R2 server suddenly started to have some issue with Event Viewer and Server Manager not loading with following error.

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException

Exception stack trace :
at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandle& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean fillCache)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean fillCache)
at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.FormView.InternalInitialize()
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.View.HandleInitializationRequest(IRequestStatus requestStatus)
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.View.ProcessRequest(Request request)
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.ViewMessageClient.ProcessRequest(Request request)
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.Internal.IMessageClient.ProcessRequest(Request request)
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.Executive.RequestStatus.BeginRequest(IMessageClient messageClient, RequestInfo requestInfo)
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.Executive.SnapInRequestOperation.ProcessRequest()
at Microsoft.ManagementConsole.Executive.Operation.OnThreadTransfer(SimpleOperationCallback callback)

Unhandled exception System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException error while launching event viewer or Server manager

I researched on the issue and found suggestions to uninstall/reinstall or repair .Net 3.5.1. We successfully repaired Dot net on the server with no success with the primary issue.

Further research pointed me towards some issues with system fonts can cause this problem, after hunting around bushes for several font settings I finally looked at the following registry location.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

All the values (font names) has data with wierd names ending with numbers like times_01.ttf or arial_05.ttf
I went ahead and Exported the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts registry from another working server 2008 R2 and imported it right into the problem server.

Voila 🙂 , this resolved the issue for me. I closed and reopened server manager and Event viewer, all comes up just fine.

PS: If it doesn’t straight away you may reboot the server

Hope this article helps you fix the issue at hand, else start a  thread at our forum for free support or reach us for paid support options.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Shishir Chandrawat

An automobile enthusiast at heart and computer geek by profession, started my Career with MS in 2005.Left Jobs and started Pledge Technologies (the parent company to Grishbi) back in 2009.We have been providing IT consulting to various Small and Medium businesses across US and UK since then.Our company specialises in Microsoft Server technologies like AD, Exchange, the rest and with numerous Office 365 migrations under our belt, we quite an expert with that too. Whatever we learn in our day to day life, we share it back on Grishbi as a Thank for all the love and support our customers have given us.

Latest posts by Shishir Chandrawat (see all)

• Exchange 2010 Std: Mailbox server has reached the maximum database limit of 5 Error RcrExceedDbLimitException - December 12, 2016
• Exchange 2010: Unable to add Mailbox Database copies on DAG member servers, Error: An error occurred while processing a request on server - December 12, 2016
• Unable to Mount Microsoft Exchange DAG Database, Error: Failed to determine the mount status of the active database copy - December 12, 2016