Browser Service Fails to Start or Stop Button Is Unavailable

ID: Q189606

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

When starting the Browser Service, your computer may appear to stop responding (hang) and the following error message may occur:

Could not start the Computer Browser Service on \\SERVERNAME.
Error 2186: The service is not responding to the control function.

When you attempt to stop the Browser Service using the Services utility in Control Panel, the Stop button may be unavailable.

CAUSE

This problem is caused by a race condition in the startup code in the browser. The Browser service has two tasks trying to report status to the Service Control Manager. The result is that the status of the Browser service gets set to an incorrect value.

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.

Keywords : NT4SP4Fix kbbug4.00 kbfix4.00.sp4
Version : WinNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug