Huge Downlevel Print Job Causes File Cache to Grow

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

SYMPTOMS

When a downlevel client sends a huge print job to a Windows NT printer shared on the Microsoft Windows Network, the file cache on the server grows near to the size of physical memory.

NOTE: Downlevel clients include LAN Manager 2.x clients for MS-DOS and OS/2, MS-DOS Microsoft Network Client 3.0, Windows for Workgroups 3.x, and Windows 95. A Windows NT computer can also be a downlevel client when it has a local driver installed and prints to the printer share.

If you examine performance counters while this happens, you notice the counter for the file cache (Memory: Cache Bytes) is very high while the process working sets decline (Process: Working Set, instance _Total).

CAUSE

When the server service opens downlevel spool files it does not use the flag FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN. Therefore, Cache Manager increases the file cache when data is read or written since it expects the application to need it again.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.

Additional query words: 4.00 prodnt

Keywords : kbprint NT4SP4Fix kbbug4.00 ntprint kbfix4.00.sp4 NTSrvWkst
Version : 4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug