All the files that the root of drive C contains may be deleted when you run Scanwrapper.exe on a Systems Management Server 2003 client (843293)

SYMPTOMS

When you run the Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 security update scanning tool (Scanwrapper.exe) on an SMS 2003 client, all the files that the root of drive C contains may be deleted.

When you try to restart the SMS 2003 client, you receive the following error message during the system startup process:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: NTLDR.

Also, the following error may be logged in the Scanwrapper.log file if you distributed Scanwrapper.exe by using SMS 2003:

ERROR: Failed to create folder C:\WINNT\system32\VPCache\<Put Package ID here>\. GetLastError() = 123.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the Scan.ini file contains the following characters around or in the security update package ID entry in the ID field:

Angle brackets (<>)
Backward slash (\)
Forward slash (/)
Colon (:)
Question mark (?)
Quotation mark (")
Vertical bar (|)

This problem may also occur if you manually add the default Scan.ini file to the SMS 2003 security update package. The default Scan.ini file contains the following text in the ID field:

ID=<Put Package ID here>

RESOLUTION

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SMS 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

885643 How to obtain the latest Systems Management Server 2003 service pack

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 SMS 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.
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
   --------------------------------------------------------------
   15-May-2004  11:05  2.50.2800.101   2,252,800  Officepatch_enu.exe  
   15-May-2004  11:05  2.50.2800.101   2,576,384  Securitypatch_enu.exe

WORKAROUND

The following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles may help you work around this problem if this problem occurs after you restart the SMS 2003 client:

289022 How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP

124550 Windows NT could not start...Ntoskrnl.exe" error message

314477 Error message: Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem

You can also use the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console or you can restore a backup of the files that the root of drive C contains to work around this problem if this problem occurs after you restart the SMS 2003 client.

If you ran Scanwrapper.exe on the SMS 2003 client but you did not restart the SMS 2003 client, you can copy the potentially deleted startup files from another computer. The source computer must have the same hardware and the same operating system version as the destination computer.