Cannot establish or repair a 1-TB or larger software mirror in Windows 2000 and in Windows Server 2003

When you try to establish or repair a software mirror for an existing NTFS file system volume on a dynamic disk that is one terabyte (1 TB) or larger, you may receive the following error message during synchronization:However, after you receive this error message, the event log contains no evidence of any disk-related problems.

Note This problem does not occur if you use the logical disk wizard to create a 1 TB or larger software mirrored volume from scratch with all the unallocated free space on two dynamic disks.

Note While attempting to create a mirror of a volume under Windows Server 2003, you may not receive any error message. After the generation of the mirror fails, the effected volume will revert back to its original Simple Volume state and there is no evidence in disk management that mirroring was attempted on the destination (Shadow) disk. The Shadow disk will still contain all unallocated free space where the mirror was originally attempted.

To validate parameters, the disk management driver Dmio.sys makes sure that the starting offset is a positive value before the driver performs an individual synchronization. Unfortunately, Dmio.sys type-casts the starting offset to a signed integer before it verifies the starting offset. When the offset reaches 1 TB (1,099,511,627,776 bytes), the offset overflows, and the parameter becomes a negative number. Therefore, the parameter fails the parameter validation check. As a result, the synchronization stops, and you receive the I/O error message that is described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

Windows 2000 hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required.

Restart requirement

You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2003 hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required.

Restart requirement

You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For additional information about how hotfix packages are named, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: