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Q159775: PRB: General Protection Fault Occurs On VSS Launch

Article: Q159775
Product(s): Microsoft SourceSafe
Version(s): WINDOWS:4.0,4.0a,5.0.,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kberrmsg kbSSafe400 kbSSafe500 kbSSafe600
Last Modified: 04-MAY-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 32-bit, for Windows 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0a 
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 32-bit, for Windows 4.0a 
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows, versions 5.0., 6.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

Under certain conditions, you may receive a General Protection Fault when
attempting to open Visual SourceSafe. When running on Windows NT, this message
may appear as:

  The exception unknown software exception (0xc00000fd) occurred in the
  application at location <address>.

  Click OK to terminate the application.
  Click on CANCEL to debug the application.

where <address> is any hexadecimal memory address.

In addition to the above message, the following error has been reported under
Windows NT:

  An application error has occurred and an application error log is being
  generated. SSADMIN.EXE (SSEXP.EXE) Exception: Stack overflow 0xc00000fd
  Address: <address>

where <address> is any hexadecimal memory address.


When running on Windows 95, this message may appear as:

  This program has performed and illegal operation and will be shut down.

  If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

Another error message may appear when you log on the Visual SourceSafe explorer:

  Too many file handles open.

CAUSE
=====

One possible cause of this error is if the Srcsafe.ini file's #include
statements are cyclical in nature.

In a typical client server SourceSafe installation, both the client and the
server will have an Srcsafe.ini file. The client's Srcsafe.ini file usually
contains a single #INCLUDE entry that points to the server's Srcsafe.ini file.
An example would be:

     #INCLUDE \\Server\Share\VSS\Srcsafe.ini

If a user or administrator inadvertently modifies or adds a #INCLUDE statement to
one or more Srcsafe.ini files that results in a cyclic relationship, the above
errors will occur.

RESOLUTION
==========

Removing the cyclic #INCLUDE statements and replacing them with correctly
formatted #INCLUDE statements will resolve this problem.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

1. Install a Server installation of Visual SourceSafe.

2. Open the SRCSAFE.INI file and add the following line to the beginning of the
  file:

        #INCLUDE <Path to Srcsafe.ini>\Srcsafe.ini

  where <Path to Srcsafe.ini> is the path to the currently-opened
  Srcsafe.ini file. Save and close the Srcsafe.ini file.

3. Attempt to run the Visual SourceSafe Explorer. Note that, depending on your
  current operating system, one of the above error messages will occur.


Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kberrmsg kbSSafe400 kbSSafe500 kbSSafe600 
Technology        : kbSSafeSearch kbAudDeveloper kbSSafe600 kbSSafe400 kbSSafe400a kbSSafe16bitSearch kbSSafe32bitSearch
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,4.0a,5.0.,6.0
Issue type        : kbprb

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