You cannot remove or update an NDIS intermediate driver that requires a Notify Object DLL in Windows 2000 (826219)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Windows 2000, when you try to remove or to update a network driver interface specification (NDIS) intermediate driver that requires a Notify Object DLL, you may experience all the following symptoms:

If you open the Properties dialog box of the device in the Network and Dial-up Connections Control Panel item, and then click Uninstall to remove that device, the device driver appears to be removed successfully. However, the device driver's .dll file remains in the %WINDIR%\System32 folder.
If you try to delete the driver's .dll file from the %WINDIR%\System32 folder, you receive the following error message:
Cannot delete filename: Access is denied. The source file may be in use.
If you try to install another version of the driver that contains an updated copy of the Notify Object DLL or that contains an earlier copy of the Notify Object DLL, the new file is not copied over the previous file.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the NDIS intermediate driver requires a Notify Object DLL for installation. The Notify Object DLL is not removed from memory when you remove the network component that it belongs to. Because of this, you cannot remove the .dll file from the %WINDIR%\System32 folder.

In this scenario, the device driver has unregistered itself from the registry, and has indicated that it can be unloaded. However, the Notify Object DLL is still locked in memory.

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:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

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

No prerequisites are required to install this hotfix.

Restart requirement

You do not have to 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) 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
   ---------------------------------------------------------
   23-Mar-2004  23:31  5.0.2195.6628    837,120  Netcfgx.dll      
   11-Mar-2004  15:17  5.0.2195.6901  1,072,128  Ole32.dll        
   11-Mar-2004  17:43                    72,090  Ole32.lib
   11-Mar-2004  15:17  5.0.2195.6901    239,104  Rpcss.dll

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about new naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

816915 New naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages

For additional information about the terminology that is used in this article, 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