Slave instance of TestExecute freezes on 'Waiting for TestExecute...'

Hi,

We're running tests on 4 VMs from a master machine using TestComplete's distributed testing features.

It's been running fine for months, until one of the VMs refused to proceed with the tests.

The master is able to verify the machine (Win10 x64) and transfer the project files correctly.

However the slave instance of TC/TE (tried both) hangs on the 'Waiting for TestExecute' step indefinitely. The process has to be killed in task manager as hitting the Stop button has no effect.

Some facts:

-Running the same project locally on this VM works fine (with TC & TE)

-The logs show no test execution at all. I tried having only one script in the test item with Log.Message("whatever") and even that doesn't go through.

-All the VMs are similarly configured (Win7-32, 81-64, 10-32 & 10-64)

-Tried getting rid of the latest windows update package, no luck.

-While hung, the TC/TE process shows around 10% CPU usage

-TE version: 10.40.2018.11

-TC version: 10.40.2015.7

There's really no feedback from the app at all...Is there a way to troubleshoot the issue with logs/reports somewhere?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!