Your Computer May Hang If the OemPnPDriversPath Value Is Longer Than 98 Characters (307950)

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 Q307950

SYMPTOMS

Your computer may stop responding (hang) if the data value of the OemPnPDriversPath value in the following registry key contains more than 98 characters:

HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/DevicePath

CAUSE

This issue occurs because the buffer that holds the full path is too small.

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   Size    File name
   -------------------------------------
   23-Aug-2001  11:25  81,829  Winnt.exe

NOTE: To use this fix, you must copy this file to a network installation location, and then launch the installation.

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

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 The 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:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	9/26/2005
Keywords:	kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbbug kbfix kbsetup kbWin2000PreSP3Fix kbWin2000sp3fix KB307950