Active Directory Users and Computers Snap-In FIND Function Does Not Return Correct Results (303190)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2
This article was previously published under Q303190

SYMPTOMS

When you are using one of the characters that is listed in the "More Information" section of this article in the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, the results of the find may not be returned correctly. If the filter or item string that you use in the query contains an escape character that is listed in the "More Information" section of this article, the query may not return correct data for your search.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if the FIND function does not follow the RFC 2254 LDAP search filter specifications.

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

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:
   Date         Time   Version      Size     File name    Platform
   ---------------------------------------------------------------
   21-Sep-2001  18:57  5.0.2195.43  156,944  Dsquery.dll  Intel

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, convert the special character to the hexadecimal value when you type the filter string to make the find query work correctly.

Examples

\\ABC

This does not work because "\" is a special character.

\5C\5CABC

This does work because "\" signals a special character is following which is 5C hexadecimal or "\".

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 3.

MORE INFORMATION

Specifications for Search Filters in RFC 2254

If a value contains any of the following characters, the character must be encoded as the backslash '\' character (ASCII 0x5c) followed by the two hexadecimal digits that represent the ASCII value of the encoded character: 

Character       ASCII value
---------------------------

*               0x2a
(               0x28
)               0x29
\               0x5c
NUL             0x00

Note that the case of the two hexadecimal digits is not significant.

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 Datacenter Program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Product

For additional information about how to install multiple hotfixes with only one reboot, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

296861 Use QChain.exe to Install Multiple Hotfixes with One Reboot

For additional information about how to install Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfixes at the same time, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

249149 Installing Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Hotfixes

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/26/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbbug kbDirServices kbenv kbfix kbui kbWin2000PreSP3Fix kbWin2000sp3fix KB303190
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