Microsoft KB Archive/327458

= SMS: Cannot View End-User Error Messages During Remote Control Session =

Article ID: 327458

Article Last Modified on 10/30/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q327458



SUMMARY
If an administrator controls a Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me)-based computer remotely, and an error message is generated by Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or another Microsoft Office-related program, the end user may receive the error message even though the administrator who controls the computer cannot view the error message on the remote console.



MORE INFORMATION
The Systems Management Server remote control agent in Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me monitors the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) on the workstation for any application programming interface (API) calls, and then forwards these to the remote controller.

In these particular Windows operating systems, if a program experiences an error, it first determines whether it can handle the error. If so, the error is sent through the GDI to the screen, where everyone can see it. If the program cannot handle the error because the error is serious enough to force the program to quit, the GDI is not notified of the error. This type of error notification is sent by the system to the screen through a different means, which forces all other windows to the background of this message. This includes the Systems Management Server remote control agent. Therefore, the Systems Management Server remote control agent cannot handle the exception and cannot forward the message to the remote controller.

On Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me-based systems, the Systems Management Server remote control agent only monitors calls to the GDI, and then forwards them on. This process is handled differently in the Windows NT class of operating systems, beginning with Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. This is an operating system limitation and is not something that the Systems Management Server remote control agent can overcome However, this limitation does not affect Windows NT 4.0-and-later operating systems, including Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, and the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family.

Additional query words: prodsms

Keywords: kbfaq kbinfo kbnofix KB327458

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