EBCDIC Character Codes May Not Be Properly Converted to ANSI Character Codes

ID: Q177471

The information in this article applies to:

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

SYMPTOMS

A Windows NT client or server that receives EBCDIC characters from an IBM- compatible computer does not convert properly from EBCDIC character codes to ANSI character codes. For example, a received string may be garbled.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the default conversion table does not map some characters as needed. Also, according to DCE (Distributed Computing Environment) specifications, the RPC (remote procedure calls) NDR (network data representation) does not provide information about code pages to the RPC layer. In other words, incoming data does not supply to the RPC receiver (client or server) any information about the code set or code page of the sender (client or server). This means that 1) the IBM-compatible computer can have a symmetrical problem when converting from a specific ANSI code page that is valid for a particular locale; and 2) the RPC layer cannot convert properly based on the information from the received data.

RESOLUTION

The default conversion table has been changed to default to mapping from 1047 IBM EBCDIC code set to 1252 ANSI code page. This hotfix works properly for IBM and Microsoft systems that use the indicated default code set/code page.

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

For your convenience, the English version of this post-SP3 hotfix has been posted to the following Internet location. However, Microsoft recommends that you install Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 to correct this problem.

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com

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

Keywords : kbnetwork kbprint NT4SP4Fix kbbug4.00 kbRPC kbSDKPlatform ntprint kbfix4.00.sp4 NTSrvWkst kbGrpNet
Version : WinNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug