NetWare Drives Inaccessible to CIM and MMTA (150047)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
This article was previously published under Q150047 SYMPTOMS
When multiple processes contend for a drive resource through the Novell
NetWare redirector (NWRDR), applications may intermittently fail to access
the drive resource.
For example, when you use the Windows NT Multitasking MTA (message transfer agent) (MMTA)
configured
with Compaq Insight Manager, the MMTA may fail when it attempts to connect
to Microsoft Mail postoffices installed on a NetWare server. If this
happens, the drive resource cannot be accessed until Client Services for
NetWare is restarted or the system rebooted. Failure may also occur if,
while the MMTA is accessing dynamic drives for data, you select a drive
in File Manager or perform various file I/O using another process.
When the MMTA tries to use an inaccessible drive for connecting to the
postoffices on NetWare servers, the following error message may be
displayed continuously:
NT MMTA:
Drive is used, local, or greater than last drive
When you try to connect to a NetWare server from the command prompt or
batch file, the following error may be displayed:
C:\users\default>net use X: \\NetwareServer\share
System error 85 has occurred. The local device name is already in use.
The MMTA service operates successfully as long as another process does not
create a drive-access conflict. Also, the problem does not occur when you
connect to Microsoft Mail postoffices located on Microsoft Windows NT
servers accessed through the Server Message Block (SMB) redirector.
NOTE: Although this example discusses File Manager, Compaq Insight Manager,
and MMTA for Windows NT, the problem can occur with other applications
operating on Windows NT using Client Services for NetWare and NWRDR.
CAUSE
During drive connection and disconnection I/O, the Windows NT CSRSS drive
table entry representing the NetWare drive connection becomes corrupted. A
NetWare client connection established under one process, such as the MMTA,
cannot be accessed by another process, such as through File Manager; if
access is attempted, an Access Denied message will be returned. The NWRDR
on Client Services for NetWare assigns a separate user context for each
process. This is not true for the SMB redirector, RDR (redirector). When multiple
processes begin to contend for a drive, the drive table entry can become
corrupted. Contention can occur for a number of reasons. The Windows NT
MMTA connects and disconnects dynamic drive resources. CIM periodically
accesses drive resources to obtain information. Also, File Manager can be
used to access drive resources.
Any of these operations accessing a common drive resource simultaneously
can result in drive resource contention. If a failure occurs, Client
Services for NetWare must be restarted to access the orphaned drive
letter. The drive resource can no longer be accessed even though the drive
appears to be available.
RESOLUTION
Basesrv.dll has been corrected to prevent NetWare drive resources from
becoming orphaned or corrupted.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51.
This problem was corrected in the latest Windows NT 3.51 U.S. Service
Pack. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the
following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 11/4/2003 |
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| Keywords: | kbnetwork KB150047 |
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