Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 18:31:34 -0500
From: Ilya Slavin <Ilya.Slavin@TUDOR.COM>
To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM
Subject: NT Y2K issue (post SP4)
Those of you who are in the process of deploying SP4 or are
planning to do so should be aware that a new Y2K problem was discovered
in this service pack.
Here's the scoop. In the course of Y2K testing of Windows NT server and
workstation, I patched the OS and all applications to their vendor
recommended Y2K levels (that included SP4 on both types of systems as
well as other fixes on the workstation). The test itself was to set
the clock 30 seconds prior to midnight on December 31, 1999 and initiate
a large file copy (by right-clicking on the initial file in Explorer,
selecting copy, and then paste in the destination folder). The object
was to have the copy process complete in 2000. This way the new file
creation date would be in one year, and the last access date will be in
the next.
What I discovered was very troubling. On several attempts to run the
test, both NT Server and NT Workstation (on two different computers)
failed to roll the clock into the next year (while succeeding on most
other attempts). Instead they went from 11:59:59PM on December 31st,
1999 to 12:00:00PM of the same day, thus adding another 12 hours to it.
The first time I saw this I thought I made a mistake and set the clock
to AM instead of PM, but the file creation date showed that it was
indeed set correctly.
These results were confirmed by Russ Cooper (the moderator of this
mailing list) with a few twists: sometimes the clock can go forward by
12 hours instead of back. Also, it appears that this problem does not
happen when you use the copy command from the DOS shell. After Russ'
notes were added to the case I opened earlier with Microsoft (although I
myself wasn't able to persuade the vendor the problem actually existed),
a bug number was assigned to this issue. However, as of the time of
this writing, we remain in the dark as to how far Microsoft has gotten
with the test.
While this may not seem like a very big deal, this bug may be troubling.
Depending on the system call that triggers this problem (there have to
be over a good dozen different ones occurring in the process of a file
copy), this may turn out to be a serious problem.
Please keep in mind that Microsoft is claiming commitment to Service
Pack 4's Y2K compliance (as well as Service Pack 3's compliance "with
minor issues"). So if they do confirm that this is a problem, they will
likely issue a hot fix to existing Service Packs. Thus it may not be
necessary to halt all SP4 deployment and wait for the next Service Pack,
but you may find it helpful to keep the information provided in this
message in mind as you plan deployment.
As more details emerge, we'll post them to this list, but for the time
being, it does not appear that SP4 is entirely Y2K compliant as was
originally stated. I would also like to hear from anyone who was able
to reproduce this problem - the more reports there are, the greater the
chance that Microsoft will address this issue in a timely fashion.
Ilya Slavin
System Administrator
Tudor Investment Corporation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 17:06:18 -0800
From: Jason Garms <jasong@MICROSOFT.COM>
To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM
Subject: Re: NT Y2K issue (post SP4)
We still have not been able to reproduce this reported bug under numerous
system configurations, either using information supplied by Ilya, or with
additional information from Russ. We are continuing to evaluate this and
trying different system configurations to try to reproduce it. Thanks to
Russ for his time today working with us on this.
We would welcome any additional information that can be supplied on how to
reproduce this bug. Please direct this info to our y2k reporting alias:
y2k@microsoft.com.
Thanks,
-jasong
Jason Garms
Windows NT Security
Microsoft Corporation
-----Original Message-----
>From: Ilya Slavin [mailto:Ilya.Slavin@TUDOR.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 3:32 PM
To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM
Subject: NT Y2K issue (post SP4)
Those of you who are in the process of deploying SP4 or are
planning to do so should be aware that a new Y2K problem was discovered
in this service pack.
[text deleted...]
As more details emerge, we'll post them to this list, but for the time
being, it does not appear that SP4 is entirely Y2K compliant as was
originally stated. I would also like to hear from anyone who was able
to reproduce this problem - the more reports there are, the greater the
chance that Microsoft will address this issue in a timely fashion.
Ilya Slavin
System Administrator
Tudor Investment Corporation