Running Out of Memory Can Cause Loss of Cryptographic Keys (Machine GUID) (252325)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

Running out of memory can cause the system to regenerate the cryptographic keys. These keys are associated with the computer's Globally Unique Identifiers (GUID) in the registry; the changed GUID becomes inaccessible to any other servers, services, or programs.

In this scenario, a Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) service may be unable to start or stop.

CAUSE

When the Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) cannot read the cryptographic keys (machine GUID) and an "Out of memory" error message occurs, the CSP creates a new machine GUID by overwriting the original value. The new machine GUID cannot be accessed unless the GUID is known.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for 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

WORKAROUND

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To work around this problem, back up the machine GUID from the registry. You can then restore it when a problem occurs, and then reboot the server.

You can back up the machine GUID value from the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\MachineGuid

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 Windows 2000 Service Pack 1.