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Downlevel Clients Can Cause Excessive Spooler CPU Usage

Article ID: 216905 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q216905

SYMPTOMS

Connecting to a Windows NT print queue from a Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 client can cause the spooler process (Spoolss.exe) to approach 100 percent CPU usage if a large number of print jobs are in the queue. Another possible symptom of this issue is that the print queue window on the client may become unresponsive. A network trace between the client and the print server shows continuous remote procedure call (RPC) traffic as the client repeatedly attempts to enumerate the list of print jobs in the queue.

Windows NT clients are unaffected by this issue.

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CAUSE

This problem occurs because the number of print jobs that the downlevel client can retrieve exceeded the 64 KB limit.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or the individual software update. For information on obtaining the latest service pack, please go to:

Windows Service Pack Center
(http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/service-packs)
-or-
152734
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/152734/EN-US/ )
how to obtain the latest windows nt 4.0 service pack

For information on obtaining the individual software update, contact Microsoft Product Support Services. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS)

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