XIMS: NNTP Service Converts Two-Digit Years Incorrectly

ID: q238020

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Commercial Internet System version 2.0
Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

The Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) service may not properly convert two-digit years to four digits. For example, if you specify the year 2000 using "00", the service may convert the two-digit year to 1900 instead of 2000.

When a messaging client attempts to post a message to an NNTP server using a two-digit year, the fact that the two-digit year is converted incorrectly may cause an error message similar to the following to be displayed:

441 (647) Article Rejected -- The Date in the date header is too old.

Microsoft is currently not aware of any messaging clients that post messages using two-digit years.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or the individual software update. For information on obtaining the latest service pack, please go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/servicepacks/

Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

For information on obtaining the individual software update, contact Microsoft Product Support Services. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

If you are running Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 or Service Pack 4:

This software update has been posted to the following Internet location as Q238020i.exe (x86) and Q238020a.exe (Alpha):

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/NT40/hotfixes-postSP5/Y2K/NNTP-fix/

To determine if a localized version of this software update is available, change "USA" in the URL above to the appropriate localized abbreviation. Click here for a list of these abbreviations.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6.

MORE INFORMATION

After you apply the software update, two-digit years are converted to four digits according to the following table:

Two-digit year Four-digit year

00-49 2000-2049

50-99 1950-1999

For more information about how Microsoft products are affected by year 2000 (Y2K) issues, please see the following Microsoft World Wide Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/year2000/

Additional query words: Y2K

Keywords : kb2000 prodmcis2 prodINS NT4SP6Fix
Version : winnt:2.0,4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug