Windows Stops Responding When Sending System Broadcast Message During Shutdown

When you click Shut down and then click OK in the Shut Down Windows dialog box, your computer may stop responding (hang) while the following message is displayed: NOTE: This article and the update it describes is superceded by the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

During shutdown, a WM_DEVICECHANGE message is broadcast to all top-level windows. This broadcast informs each window of a DBT_DEVICEREMOVECOMPLETE event. If a window does not respond to the broadcast system message, the computer may hang.

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For additional information about Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition hotfixes, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about Windows 95 hotfixes, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: