Unable to Shut Down the W3SVC Service Properly (252408)

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

When you try to stop the W3SVC service using the Services in the Control Panel, the following error message occurs:

The World Wide Web Publishing Service service could not be stopped

You may also see this error if you attempt to use the command line command net stop w3svc:

Error 2186: The service is not responding to the control function

In the task list, you can see that the Inetinfo.exe process still exists. You cannot restart W3SVC without stopping the InetInfo.exe process first.

CAUSE

When shutting down, the W3SVC service first tries to close all existing TCP/IP client sessions. For each pending connection, the W3SVC shutdown code waits until the "active" user requests are finished. When all TCP/IP sessions have been closed, W3SVC can then shut down all running ISAPI applications.

If a Web client has a file download in progress and does not read the entire server response, then the TCP connection cannot be closed quickly and the W3SVC cannot shut down in the timeframe registered with the Windows NT Service Control Manager (SCM). This time is 120 seconds by default. The Windows NT SCM then displays the error message.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows NT service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

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 typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date      Time    Version       Size    File name     Platform
   -------------------------------------------------------------
   01/21/00  22:20   4.2.0738      185,760 Infocomm.dll  x86
   01/21/00  22:19   4.2.0738       47,936 Isatq.dll     x86
   01/21/00  22:21   4.2.0738       38,256 Ssinc.dll     x86
   01/21/00  22:21   4.2.0738       25,360 Sspifilt.dll  x86
   01/21/00  22:20   4.2.0738      228,480 W3svc.dll     x86
   01/21/00  22:20   4.2.0738       87,520 Wam.dll       x86
   01/21/00  22:20   4.2.0738      304,400 Infocomm.dll  alpha
   01/21/00  22:19   4.2.0738       82,704 Isatq.dll     alpha
   01/21/00  22:21   4.2.0738       60,176 Ssinc.dll     alpha
   01/21/00  22:21   4.2.0738       39,696 Sspifilt.dll  alpha
   01/21/00  22:21   4.2.0738      383,760 W3svc.dll     alpha
   01/21/00  22:20   4.2.0738      150,288 Wam.dll       alpha

MORE INFORMATION

The fix forces the closure of the TCP/IP sockets when the W3SVC service is ending. However, because IIS 4.0 allows an ISAPI application to process a request on an arbitrary thread, there is no way to notify these threads to shut down. The new registry parameter "mSecWAMTimeoutLoop" has been added to allow these threads to finish their work properly. The parameter below must be manually added to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3svc\Parameters Value name : mSecWAMTimeoutLoop (ms) Value type : REG_DWORD Default value : 200 ms

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.
If some ISAPI requests are still executing, WAM shutdown will wait a maximum of 10*mSecWAMTimeoutLoop milliseconds before shutting down.