Event IDs 4318 and 4224: WINS Database Missing or Corrupt

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you restart your Windows NT server that is running Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), the following error message may be displayed:

WINS could not come up due to missing/corrupt database. Restore the database using WINS Manager or winscl.exe (in the res kit) and then restart WINS. If WINS still does not come up, start with a fresh copy of the database. To do this:

1) delete all the files in the %%SystemRoot%%\system32\wins directory.

Note: if wins database file (typically named wins.mdb) is not in the above directory, check the registry for the full filepath.
Delete the .mdb file.
Note: if jet*.log are not in the above directory, check the registry for the directory path. Delete all log files.

2) net start wins

Please click on OK to terminate WINS.

1. Click Start, point to Programs, and click on Administrative Tools (Common), and then click on Event Viewer. This procedure opens the System Log, where WINS errors may be logged.



2. Look under the Source column for "Wins" and search for the following Event ID numbers:

   EVENT ID 4318
   Source: WINS
   

   The Description area contains the same error message listed above.
   
   This also generates the following Event in the System log.

   Event ID 4224
   Source: WINS
   WINS encountered a JET error. This may or may not be a serious error. WINS will try to recover from it. If you continue to see a large number of these errors consistently over time (a span of few hours), you may want to restore the database from a backup. The error number is in the second DWORD of the data section below.

   -other related Events-

   Event ID 7022
   Source: Service Control Manager
   The Windows Internet Name Service hung on starting.

   Event ID 7023
   Source: Service Control Manager
   The Windows Internet Name Service terminated with the following error:

   Application Events generated in the Event Viewer Application log.

   Event ID 37
   Source: JET
   Unable to read header of database C:\Winnt\System32\Wins\Wins.mdb. Error - 1811.

Could not start the Windows Internet Name Service on \\computer_name;.Error 0001:Incorrect function.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the WINS database is corrupt or could not be found in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Wins directory.

The error messages indicate that the WINS database is not running because of a corrupt, missing, or renamed Wins.mdb file.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, replace the WINS database. This can be achieved in two ways.

The first method is to restore the WINS database from a backup using WINS Manager. WINS Manager has the capability to create WINS backups and restore WINS backups. To do this:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, then point to Administrative Tools(Common).



2. Click on WINS Manager.



3. On the Mappings menu, click Restore Local Database, which is the only command listed. Restore Local Database is only accessible when the WINS database is unavailable.



4. A dialog box is displayed and prompts you for the path to the folder Wins_bak. If you have performed a WINS Backup Database procedure previously, locate the folder and set the path so that the WINS Manager is one level above the wins_bak folder.
   
   For example, if the wins_bak is at E:\Wins_bak then put the directory to E:\ and click OK. WINS Manager locates the WINS.mdb file and restores it. You can then restart the WINS Service as described above.

1. Click Stop Replication Partners in WINS Manager.



2. Stopping the WINS service is unnecessary, because it did not start when the errors listed above occurred.



3. Archive or delete the files in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Wins folder but do not delete the folder. (If you do delete the folder, simply recreate a Wins folder in this location. The folder is automatically created only when WINS is installed.)



4. Restart the WINS server. Windows NT automatically recreates the files and registers the services that the WINS server uses.



5. WINS clients in the environment then need to be restarted in order to register their services with the WINS database.
   
   If restarting the clients is not possible, you may still reregister the services in WINS.
   
   For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knoweledge Base: For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   

   Q137423 How to Reregister Services in WINS

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q185786 Recommended Practices for WINS

Q150737 Setting Primary and Secondary WINS Server Options

Q177140 How to Remove Static WINS Entries from All WINS Servers

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbnetwork kbsetup
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb