Cannot establish or repair a 1-TB or larger software mirror in Windows 2000 and in Windows Server 2003 (827913)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

SYMPTOMS

When you try to establish or repair a software mirror for an existing NTFS file system volume on a dynamic disk that is one terabyte (1 TB) or larger, you may receive the following error message during synchronization:
Logical Disk Manager

Operation aborted due to disk I/O error.
However, after you receive this error message, the event log contains no evidence of any disk-related problems.

Note This problem does not occur if you use the logical disk wizard to create a 1 TB or larger software mirrored volume from scratch with all the unallocated free space on two dynamic disks.

Note While attempting to create a mirror of a volume under Windows Server 2003, you may not receive any error message. After the generation of the mirror fails, the effected volume will revert back to its original Simple Volume state and there is no evidence in disk management that mirroring was attempted on the destination (Shadow) disk. The Shadow disk will still contain all unallocated free space where the mirror was originally attempted.

CAUSE

To validate parameters, the disk management driver Dmio.sys makes sure that the starting offset is a positive value before the driver performs an individual synchronization. Unfortunately, Dmio.sys type-casts the starting offset to a signed integer before it verifies the starting offset. When the offset reaches 1 TB (1,099,511,627,776 bytes), the offset overflows, and the parameter becomes a negative number. Therefore, the parameter fails the parameter validation check. As a result, the synchronization stops, and you receive the I/O error message that is described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

RESOLUTION

Windows 2000 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 phone 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.

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
   -------------------------------------------------------
   10-Sep-2003  17:31  2195.6817.297.3  138,416  Dmio.sys

Windows Server 2003 hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows Server 2003 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, 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.

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 
------------------------------------------------------- 
06-Jan-2005  21:11  5.2.3790.245  256,000  Dmboot.sys 
06-Jan-2005  21:44  5.2.3790.245  340,480  Dmconfig.dll 
06-Jan-2005  21:11  5.2.3790.245  144,384  Dmio.sys

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

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/25/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbBug kbfix kbQFE kbWin2000preSP5fix KB827913
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