Spool Directory Not Found During Upgrade of WinNT 3.51 to 4.0

 Last reviewed: November 25, 1997
Article ID: Q162664
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0

SYMPTOMS

If the print spooler has been moved to another hard drive by editing the registry and the system is upgraded from Windows NT 3.5X to Windows NT 4.0, the spooler files on the remote drive will not get updated. Subsequently, you may receive following error during startup of the computer: 

   The procedure entry point loaddriverfiletoconvertdevmode could not be
   located in the dynamic link library Spoolss.dll.
In addition to the above error, you may experience that a number of services will fail to start.

CAUSE

During an upgrade of Windows NT 3.51 to Windows NT 4.0, the spool directory will be created in its default location under %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool. This directory will contain all the updated Windows NT 4.0 code and print drivers. However, the registry will continue to point to the spool directory on the remote drive. Because the remote spool directory still contains code and drivers for Windows NT 3.51, the errors annotated above will be reported.

For information about procedures to move the default spool directory to a different hard drive by editing the Windows NT registry, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q123747
   TITLE     : Moving the Windows NT Default Paging and Spool File

WORKAROUND

Prior to the upgrade, use the Microsoft Knowledge Base article above to edit the Windows NT registry, pointing the spool directory back to the system drive, that is, the %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool directory.

If the upgrade has already occurred, copy the contents of the %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool directory including all subdirectories to the remote spool directory. 

Keywords          : ntprint NTSrvWkst kbnetwork
Version           : WinNT:3.5,3.51,4.0
Platform          : winnt

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Last reviewed: November 25, 1997
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