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Q162664: Spool Directory Not Found During Upgrade of WinNT 3.51 to 4.0

Article: Q162664
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): WinNT:3.5,3.51,4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbnetwork
Last Modified: 09-AUG-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

If the print spooler has been moved to another hard drive by editing the
registry and the system is upgraded from Windows NT 3.5X to Windows NT 4.0, the
spooler files on the remote drive will not get updated. Subsequently, you may
receive following error during startup of the computer:

  The procedure entry point loaddriverfiletoconvertdevmode could not be located
  in the dynamic link library Spoolss.dll.

In addition to the above error, you may experience that a number of services will
fail to start.

CAUSE
=====

During an upgrade of Windows NT 3.51 to Windows NT 4.0, the spool directory will
be created in its default location under %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool. This
directory will contain all the updated Windows NT 4.0 code and print drivers.
However, the registry will continue to point to the spool directory on the
remote drive. Because the remote spool directory still contains code and drivers
for Windows NT 3.51, the errors annotated above will be reported.

For information about procedures to move the default spool directory to a
different hard drive by editing the Windows NT registry, please see the
following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

  ARTICLE-ID: Q123747
  TITLE : Moving the Windows NT Default Paging and Spool File

WORKAROUND
==========

Prior to the upgrade, use the Microsoft Knowledge Base article above to edit the
Windows NT registry, pointing the spool directory back to the system drive, that
is, the %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool directory.

If the upgrade has already occurred, copy the contents of the
%SystemRoot%\System32\Spool directory including all subdirectories to the remote
spool directory.
======================================================================
Keywords          : kbnetwork 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT351search kbWinNT350search kbWinNT400search kbWinNTW350 kbWinNTW350search kbWinNTW351search kbWinNTW351 kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400 kbWinNTS351 kbWinNTS350 kbWinNTS351search kbWinNTS350search
Version           : WinNT:3.5,3.51,4.0

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