Microsoft KB Archive/151778

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Huge Downlevel Print Job Causes File Cache to Grow

Article ID: 151778

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006



APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition



This article was previously published under Q151778


SYMPTOMS

When a downlevel client sends a huge print job to a Windows NT printer shared on the Microsoft Windows Network, the file cache on the server grows near to the size of physical memory.

NOTE: Downlevel clients include LAN Manager 2.x clients for MS-DOS and OS/2, MS-DOS Microsoft Network Client 3.0, Windows for Workgroups 3.x, and Windows 95. A Windows NT computer can also be a downlevel client when it has a local driver installed and prints to the printer share.

If you examine performance counters while this happens, you notice the counter for the file cache (Memory: Cache Bytes) is very high while the process working sets decline (Process: Working Set, instance _Total).

CAUSE

When the server service opens downlevel spool files it does not use the flag FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN. Therefore, Cache Manager increases the file cache when data is read or written since it expects the application to need it again.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack




STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.


Additional query words: 4.00 prodnt

Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbbug kbfix kbprint KB151778