The DIR command displays wrong information for the date and time of a file

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This article was previously published under Q314048

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SYMPTOMS

File times on Windows 2000 are stored as a FILETIME value. This is a 64-bit value that represents the number of 100-nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1601 (UTC). Windows 2000 also supports time-zone adjustments. Time-zone adjustments are accomplished by adding a time-zone offset to the UTC time to compute local time. Time-zone offsets range from -12 hours (Eniwetok, Kwajalein) to +13 hours (Nuku'alofa).

If the system time is set to January 1, 1601, 12:00am UTC, and a file is created, the various file times that are saved for the file are a FILETIME that is equal to zero (0). If a user then issues a dir command to list the file, the UTC time from the file is read, and the local time-zone adjustment is added. If the local time-zone adjustment is positive, a valid FILETIME is computed. However, if the computer is configured for a time zone with a negative time zone adjustment, an invalid FILETIME value is computed.

This invalid FILETIME value results in the dir command displaying an invalid and obviously incorrect date and time for the file. For example:

    D:\1601Date>dir
     Volume in drive D is Data
     Volume Serial Number is B00D-F582

     Directory of D:\1601Date

    12/15/2001  03:26 PM    <DIR>          .
    12/15/2001  03:26 PM    <DIR>          ..
    5252/00/23678  58848:92                15 test.txt
                   1 File(s)             15 bytes
                   2 Dir(s)   3,874,045,952 bytes free

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CAUSE

This problem can occur because the dir command incorrectly assumes that the Win32 FileTimeToLocalFileTime API would always return a valid FILETIME. If the FILETIME is Jan 1, 1601 (a 64-bit value of zero), and the time-zone adjustment is negative, this assumption is incorrect.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260910/ ) How to obtain the latest Windows 2000 service pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name
   -----------------------------------------------------
   02-Jan-2002  12:10  5.0.2195.4803  236,304  Cmd.exe

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

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MORE INFORMATION

For more information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265173 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265173/ ) The Datacenter program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server product

For more information about how to install multiple hotfixes with only one reboot, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

296861 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296861/ ) Use QChain.exe to install multiple hotfixes with one reboot

For more information about how to install Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfixes at the same time, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

249149 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249149/ ) Installing Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfixes

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