DIR Command on a NetWare Directory Results in "File Not Found"

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When performing a DIR command, you may receive a "File not found" error message if the NetWare server directory contains a very large number of files.

CAUSE

After typing the DIR command, the sequence of events that causes this error is:

1. The server message block (SMB) client requests the directory information from the SMB server.

2. The SMB server requests files from the NetWare server. Sometimes the SMB server must rewind the DIR search for the SMB client.

3. Since the NetWare server does not support this rewind, the SMB server does a brute force rewind starting from file 0 (zero).

4. After the server gets down to about the 2000th file, this unwind takes so long that the SMB client times out.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.