Microsoft KB Archive/816740

= User Profile Folder Name Appears with Squares or Other Unusual Characters When You Manage Remote Computers =

Article ID: 816740

Article Last Modified on 2/22/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

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SYMPTOMS
When you remotely manage a computer by using the Computer Management snap-in (Compmgmt.msc), a user profile folder may appear on the remote computer with squares or other unusual characters in the folder name. If you try to delete the profile, the profile cannot be deleted until the computer is restarted.

This issue may also occur when you install Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 or 2003 client on Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3. A user profile folder may appear on the remote computer with squares or other unusual characters in the folder name. If you try to delete the profile, the profile cannot be deleted until the computer is restarted.



CAUSE
This problem occurs because of an error in WMI with the handling of UNICODE strings.



Service pack information
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

Hotfix information
A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows 2000 service pack that contains this hotfix.

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 about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name ---  18-Mar-2003  12:23  1.50.1085.102  176,216  Stdprov.dll



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:
 * Remotely manage the computer by using different tools.
 * Manage the computer locally.

To prevent this problem from occuring with later WMI connections to the computer, apply the fix to the client side.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.



MORE INFORMATION
This problem may also occur when you are using other tools that use WMI. For more information about how to use the snap-in, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/snap_start_mmc.mspx?mfr=true

For additional information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265173 The Datacenter Program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Product

Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbsysadmin kbwin2ksp4fix kbenv kbprb kbwin2000presp4fix kbfix kbbug KB816740

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