Blue Screen When Closing Kernel Mode Handles from User Mode

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This article was previously published under Q160650

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SYMPTOMS

User mode programs that close a handle that was opened up by a kernel mode component may cause a blue screen error message.

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In Windows NT 3.51, if this happened, the handle became invalid. In Windows NT 4.0, if a kernel mode component closed an already closed handle, a blue screen error would occur. A user mode application has no way of knowing who closed the handle. A user mode application should never close a handle opened by that application in kernel mode.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0.
This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

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