PRB: Screen Saver Fails to Run Due to a User32.dll Error

• Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API), used with:
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows 2000

SYMPTOMS

The Screen saver fails to run, and the following error message appears:

Initialization of the dynamic library <system>\system32\user32.dll failed. The process is terminating abnormally.

CAUSE

A process applied a NULL Discretionary Access Control List (DACL) to the WinSta0 Window Station.

RESOLUTION

A process should not apply a NULL DACL to the WinSta0 Window Station. Either an access control entry (ACE) should be added to the existing ACEs in the DACL, or, if the DACL is replaced, it should contain at least one ACE.

For more information on adding an ACE to the interactive Window Station and Desktop, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q165194 INFO: CreateProcessAsUser, Windowstations and Desktops

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbnokeyword kbAccCtrl kbAPI kbDLL kbKernBase kbNTOS400 kbWinOS2000 kbSecurity kbDSupport kbGrpKernBase
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb