A memory leak may occur in the Winmgmt process in Windows 2000 (891071)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

SYMPTOMS

When you use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to query or to back up the event log on a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer, a memory leak may occur in the Winmgmt process. If you run many queries, the leak grows, and the computer's performance is decreased. In testing scenarios, this kind of leak has grown to as large as 100 megabytes (MB) in 24 hours.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because of a bug in the Version.dll file. Each query causes the Shell32.dll file to be loaded and unloaded from the Version.dll file. However, the Shell32.dll file is not correctly unloaded .

RESOLUTION

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

Prerequisites

You must have Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) installed to install this hotfix.

Restart requirement

You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
   Date         Time   Version            Size    File name
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   07-Jan-2005  06:23  5.0.2195.7019      16,656  Version.dll

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about how hotfix packages are named, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

816915 New file naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates


Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/1/2006
Keywords:kbBug kbfix kbWin2000preSP5fix kbHotfixServer kbQFE KB891071 kbAudITPRO