Removable Storage Manager Reports Automatic Library Configuration Error Messages (248800)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
This article was previously published under Q248800
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

After you install Windows 2000 or add a new tape library to your computer, Removable Storage Manager (RSM) may generate an operator request to manually configure the changer and one or both of the following System event error messages may appear:
  • Event ID: 110
    Event Type: Error
    Event Source: Removable Storage Service
    Description:
    Automatic configuration for library Changer0 failed to configure DriveBay 0. The driver for the device in this bay is not properly loaded.
  • Event ID: 1
    Event Type: Error
    Event Source: Removable Storage Service
    Description:
    Unable to auto-configure library unit Changer0. The current setup of the library unit does not support automatic configuration. You will either have to modify the current setup of the library to adhere to automatic configuration guidelines (if possible) or manually configure the device.
When you view the Removable Storage console, the library is not visible in Physical Locations and the tape drives appear as stand-alone drives.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because RSM can only auto-configure a robotic library when the following conditions are true:
  • The robotic library hardware unit supports drive element address reporting with the ReadElementStatus SCSI command.

    Contact the manufacturer to find out if your library hardware unit supports this feature.
  • All drives inside the robotic library are on the same SCSI bus as the library itself.
  • The TAPE library is not attached to a Fiber Channel Switch.

    This may change in future versions of RSM.
NOTE: Sometimes Plug and Play configures a changer driver before it configures the drivers for the drives inside. As a result, RSM may indicate that it cannot configure the library. When Plug and Play finishes configuring the drivers for the drives, RSM completes the configuration of the changer without any administrator intervention. This issue may also occur if one or more of the drives is not enabled. To enable the drives:
  1. Start the Removable Storage Manager console, and then expand the Physical Locations object.
  2. Expand the AutoLoader device, and then click Drives.
  3. Right-click a drive that has a red arrow pointing down, and then click Properties.
  4. Click to select the Enable this device check box, and then click OK.

RESOLUTION

If the two requirements described earlier cannot be met and the drives are online, you can configure the library by using the RsmConfg.exe tool included in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit, or you can manually configure the library.

Manual Configuration

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Because not all library hardware units and system configurations support the auto-configuration feature, RSM provides a method for manually configuring library hardware units. Only use this method when you have to, because RSM cannot detect manually-configured changes. In most cases, only manually configure RSM when it detects a robotic library that it cannot configure. After you set RSM for manual configuration, a changer does not participate in auto-configuration even if its configuration is changed. RSM typically starts auto-configuration after you install, move, or remove hardware. Auto-configuration occurs automatically when you restart your computer after you add the device. For changers that you cannot auto-configure, RSM adds incomplete registry entries and generates an operator request to manually configure such changers.

To manually configure RSM, follow these steps:
  1. Stop RSM by typing the following at the command prompt:

    net stop "removable storage"

  2. Copy the files in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Ntmsdata folder to a secure temporary folder to back up the RSM database.
  3. Restart RSM by typing the following command at the command prompt:

    net start "removable storage"

  4. Use the RSM console to make a note of all the drives that appear as stand-alone drive libraries. RSM displays all drives that are not mapped to a changer as stand-alone drive libraries, including drives that are actually in the changer but are unmapped.
  5. Eject any tapes that are located in the drives in the library.
  6. Put a tape in a drive that is located in the library that you are trying to configure. To do this, either open the library door or go through a front panel and port (see your changer's documentation for details about how to do this). Click Refresh in the RSM console for each of the stand-alone drives, and then locate the drive that now shows that it contains a tape. Open the property sheet for that drive and note the device name on the Device Information property page (for example, \\.\Tape0). Repeat this step for each drive in the changer that you try to configure
  7. Click Start, click Run, type regedt32.exe, and then click OK.
  8. Locate the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NtmsSvc\Config\Changerx

  9. Change the AutoCfg:REG_DWORD:0x1 value to 0. If AutoCfg does not exist, create a new value that is named AutoCfg with a data type of REG_DWORD, and then type 0 for the data.
  10. Stop RSM again.
  11. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NtmsSvc\Config

    The Config key contains a subkey for each changer (for example, Changer0) and a subkey for each stand-alone drive. Each changer subkey contains an entry for each drive bay in the changer (for example, DriveBay0).
  12. For each DriveBayx entry that has a ??? value, replace that value with the device name extracted in step 6 with the drive in that bay without the leading "\\.\" characters (for example, Tape3). For example:

    DriveBay0:REG_SZ:Tape0
    DriveBay1:REG_SZ:Tape1

  13. Quit Registry Editor.
  14. Restart RSM. RSM reads the new configuration information and initializes the devices.
  15. Using the snap-in, put a tape in each drive in the library after RSM is initialized. If any of the configurations are incorrect, RSM generates an error message during the initialization or when you insert a tape in a drive.
  16. If the manual configuration is unsuccessful, stop the RSM process. Copy your backup version of the RSM database files back to the %SystemRoot%\System32\Ntmsdata folder to restore the database and restart the manual configuration process.
If RSM does not generate any error messages, the manual configuration was successful.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about RSM and tape libraries, see the "Data Storage and Management" chapter of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit. For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

216328 Installed Tape Device Is Not Recognized by RSM

235032 Problems with a Damaged Removable Storage Manager Database

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/21/2003
Keywords:kbenv kberrmsg kbprb KB248800
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.