Failure to Modify User Accounts

• Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 and 3.51

SYMPTOMS

If you attempt to add a user or modify an existing user account, you receive the following error:

   The transaction state of a registry subkey is incompatible with the
   requested operation

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the %Systemroot%\Netlogon.chg file is corrupted, or has the read-only file attribute set.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, ensure that the read-only attribute is not set for the Netlogon.chg file, or delete the file. This file is located only on the primary domain controller (PDC) of the domain. This file is re-created when you start Windows NT.

MORE INFORMATION

The Netlogon.chg file is located on the PDC and keeps track of the changes made to the security databases. Each change to the security databases is recorded in the change log along with the change serial number. The serial number is maintained separately for each of the three security databases. The security databases are actually three separate databases: the SAM Accounts database, the SAM Built-in database, and the LSA database. The SAM Built-in database contains all the default local groups installed with the system. The SAM Accounts database include all other SAM objects: users, global groups, site-specific local groups, and global security policy. The LSA database contains user rights, secret objects, and trusted domain objects.

The Netlogon.chg file is incremented once for each change to the databases. When a backup domain controller (BDC) requests a particular change from the PDC, the PDC views the change log to determine what changes need to be sent.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q102717
   TITLE     : Windows NT UAS Replication (Windows NT and LAN Manager)

   ARTICLE-ID: Q173882
   TITLE     : Netlogon Synchronization Errors