FPNW Blue Screens Accessing or Creating Folders with Long Paths

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft File and Print Services for NetWare versions 3.51 and 4.0

SYMPTOMS

If your network client uses Novell's MS-DOS real-mode redirector, NETX, you may experience one of the following problems:

• When you attempt to create a directory where the total path length is greater than 255 characters on a FPNW server, you may experience a blue screen error.
• When you attempt to access a directory where the total path length is greater than 128 characters on a FPNW server, FPNW becomes unstable and a blue screen error normally occurs during the shut down of FPNW.

CAUSE

You experience a blue screen error when you attempt to create a folder with a path greater than 255 characters because FPNW does not perform limit checking on the path length when the request is made. This problem only affects NETX clients because all other Novell NetWare clients perform limit checking before they submit the request to the server.

You experience a blue screen error when you attempt to access a folder with a path greater than 128 characters due to problems converting the folder path string to Unicode within the FPNW server. This only affects NETX clients because all other Novell NetWare clients' use different NCP's (Network Control Protocol) which do not experience this problem when they submit a change directory request.

RESOLUTION

Perform one of the following steps to resolve these problems:

• Obtain the hotfix mentioned below.
• Use a Novell's VLM client on MS-DOS-based computers instead of NETX.
• Do not create folders with paths greater than 128 characters.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the Following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K