Microsoft KB Archive/305960

= Remote Storage Restores .exe Files When You Browse a Network Share =

PSS ID Number: 305960

Article Last Modified on 12/19/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6a
 * Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

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This article was previously published under Q305960



SYMPTOMS
When you are using Windows 2000 Server Remote Storage to archive the contents of a network share to a remote storage device (such as a tape drive) you may experience the following symptoms:
 * When a client that is running a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows 2000 browses a share that is managed by Remote Storage, the client may experience a delay.
 * Executable (.exe) files that were previously archived to the remote storage device may be restored to the share, and this may occur even though none of the browsing clients ran the program itself.



CAUSE
This behavior can be caused when an older client's shell interface (for example, Explorer.exe) tries to retrieve the embedded icon information from the .exe file that is located on the network share. By design, .exe files can contain embedded icon information to present a graphical representation of the program to the user. This causes the .exe file to be opened so the embedded information can be retrieved. Because of this, Remote Storage restores the file from the remote storage device.



RESOLUTION
If you are experiencing long browsing times because .exe files are constantly being restored from a remote storage device, you may want to use any of the following options:
 * Upgrade all of your client computers (that will be connecting to the share) to Windows 2000 or a later operating system that is aware of the offline file status.
 * Keep .exe files in a separate folder that is not archived to a remote storage device by Remote Storage.
 * Use a non-graphical interface to browse the shares that contain the .exe files. A program such as the Command shell does not use the graphical information and will keep the .exe files in their offline state.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.



MORE INFORMATION
Windows 2000 clients are &quot;aware&quot; of the .exe file being in an offline state. Instead of opening the file to read (and display the associated icon information), Windows 2000 clients substitute a generic .exe icon with a small clock symbol to indicate that the file is offline. Because of this, the file remains in the offline state, unless the network client then decides to run or copy the file.

Additional query words: use archive netbios browse neighborhood winfile.exe

Keywords: kbnetwork kbprb kbui KB305960

Technology: kbwin2000Search kbwin2000Serv kbwin2000ServSearch kbwin2000ServSP1 kbwin2000ServSP2 kbWinME kbWinMEsearch kbWinNT400search kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNTW400SP6a kbWinNTWsearch

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