Cannot Start More Than 100 Services

 Last reviewed: November 11, 1997
Article ID: Q175937
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.51 and 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.51 and 4.0

SYMPTOMS

The number of simultaneously running services is limited to 100 (excluding all shared services that run under the Services.exe process, such as Alerter, Browser, EventLog, LanmanServer, LanmanWorkstation, LMHOSTS, Messenger, and so on).

Trying to start an additional service leads to the following error message: 

   All pipe instances are busy.

CAUSE

The Service Control Manager (that is, Services.exe) creates a pipe for each of the services it starts. This pipe is used for interprocess communication between the Service Control Manager and the process of the service. The maximum number of pipe instances is hard-coded to 100. 

Keywords          : ntsecurity NTSrvWkst kberrmsg
Version           : WinNT:3.51,4.00
Platform          : winnt
Hardware          : ALPHA x86
Issue type        : kbinfo

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Last reviewed: November 11, 1997
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