Access Violations in Spooler Service When Printing a Long Named Print Job

ID: Q246729

The information in this article applies to:

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

The Windows NT Server spooler process may generate "Access violation" error messages and stop responding (hang) intermittently. When this occurs, an error message may be displayed, indicating that the print job was not finished successfully because the printer is out of paper or another hardware problem has occurred.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur with a print job with a long name. If the print job name is longer than 200 bytes and the printer also has a hardware problem, the spooler service may not generate an error message. This behavior can occur even if you are logged on locally.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but it has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. If you are not severely affected by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows NT 4.0 service pack that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. 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

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. Click the file names below to download the files:

Q243649.exe (Intel)

Q243649.exe (Alpha)

For more information about how to download files from the Microsoft Download Center, please visit the Download Center at the following Web address

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp

and then click How to use the Microsoft Download Center.NOTE: You must be running Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later to apply this fix.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can use either of the following methods:

Do not print jobs with very long names.

Keep the printer online and add paper.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

For information about setting up a debug session using a modem, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q243649 Unchecked Print Spooler Buffer May Expose System Vulnerability

Additional query words: spoolss

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