Cannot Open .evt Files Included in a Winrep .cab File

When you attempt to open an Event Viewer log file (.evt file) that is included in a Windows Reporting tool (Winrep) .cab file, you may receive the following error message: NOTE: The text of the message may vary, depending on the type of log file you are attempting to open (application, security, and so on).

This behavior occurs because the .evt file is saved and compressed in the .cab file that the Windows Reporting tool (Winrep) generates. The event logs included with Winrep cannot be opened in Event Viewer.

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:

To work around this issue, use the appropriate method.

Method 1

Save Event Viewer log files separately as individual .evt files and do not include them with the Winrep .cab file:

1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
2. Click the plus sign (+) next to Event Viewer, and then click the log you want to save.
3. On the Action menu, click Save Log File As.
   
   NOTE: The Save as Type list should default to Event Log (*.evt).
4. In the File name box, type the appropriate file name, and then click Save.

Method 2

Configure Event Viewer files as text files and include them with a Winrep .cab file:

1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
2. Click the plus sign (+) next to Event Viewer, and then click the log you want to save.
3. On the Action menu, click Save Log File As.
4. In the Save as Type list, click Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt).
5. In the File name box, type the appropriate file name, and then click Save. Make a note of where you save the file.
6. Click Start, click Run, type winrep, and then press ENTER.
7. Click Change System File Selections, and Collecting System Information begins.
8. Click Add, and then browse to the location noted in step 5.
9. Click the file, and then click Open. The text file is now included in the list of files to copy that comprises the .cab file. You can use a text editor such as Notepad to open the text-based version of the Event Viewer log file.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Windows 2000.

This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 1.