I am having one strange issue with a Windows Server 2008 R2 vm installed on top of ESXi 6.5u2. Kindly check the screenshot below.
The VM has network activities, when I send the ALT+CTRL+DEL from the esxi console menu, it works, however, there is no Windows taskbar, no desktop icon, no desktop activities, even when I right-click the desktop, nothing happens, clicking Windows key+R does not bring the run box, Windows+E does not bring the explorer, nothing. VMware tools is installed. I need to reboot the VM to work normally, but few minutes after the VM reboot, the following problem occurs again.
To note also that, this is a fresh new installed VM, the VM did not crashed.
Here is the machine specs, someone might come up with solution that maybe the hardware is not in VMware HCI - I have two other similar machine, on top of them Windows Server 2008 is running smoothly.