Not enough server storage

[drbenson]

I'm getting an odd error trying to connect from my W7 laptop to an XP PC. The XP computer is 'seen' on the network, and I can see the shared folders on that computer. The problem comes when I try to see inside those folders. I get this error message:

[Window Title]
Open Folder

Contents

\\DOCOFFICE\Doc Office C is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.
Not enough server storage is available to process this command.

Anyone have a clue what's going on here? I believe all of my sharing permissions are correct, and the XP computer can see files on the W7 machines (I have two laptops that I'm playing with W7 on). Both W7 laptops generate the same error trying to access the XP machine, though they can see and access each other just fine. I've run through all of the troubleshooters multiple times to no avail, disabled and re-enabled network access (both wireless and Ethernet connections), and still get that same error consistently.

Any help or guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[zigzag3143]

who is the owner of the folder you cant open? do you have read access to that folder?

ken

 

[drbenson]

Not sure about the technicalities of your question- there is one administrator (me) on all computers. In XP, I have the folder set to share on the network, and allow network users to change my files.

I just found something interesting- I have two additional hard drives on the XP computer, and can access them just fine from W7. It's everything on my C drive that generates that error.

 

[zigzag3143]

Not sure about the technicalities of your question- there is one administrator (me) on all computers. In XP, I have the folder set to share on the network, and allow network users to change my files.

I just found something interesting- I have two additional hard drives on the XP computer, and can access them just fine from W7. It's everything on my C drive that generates that error.

Ok what i am asking is if you go to the folder you cant open (even the whole c: drive) right click>properties>security. highlight your name and make sure it has all the things checked
See enclosed picture
Ken

 

[drbenson]

Somewhat confused, sorry. When I go to the properties of the XP drive in XP, I don't have a security tab, only General, Tools, Hardware, Sharing, and Quota tabs. If I right click the problem drive from one of the W7 computers, I get General, Network, Previous, and Customize tabs- nothing about security. I recognize the screen you copied above, and have it all set properly in W7 (I believe). Am I missing something?

 

[sup3rsprt]

When I go to the properties of the XP drive in XP, I don't have a security tab

To get the Security tab in XP, you must disable Simple File Sharing (or in the case of XP Home edition, boot up in Safe Mode). The option to enable/disable SFS is under My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View (at the bottom of the advanced section)

To troubleshoot further, you should temporarily uninstall or disable any third party security software. Because it very often causes problems with file sharing.

 

[H2SO4]

...
Not enough server storage is available to process this command.
...

That's a very misleading error message because its meaning makes far more sense to driver developers than to system administrators

The "server storage" that the XP box is supposedly lacking is in something called an IRP. Think of IRPs as a way for drivers to pass work items to one another. For example, the XP network drivers receive your request from the Win7 machine and write it down in the first "slot" of the IRP. Then, they pass the IRP along to the Server service, which in turn consumes another IRP slot to record its own information relating to the request. NTFS is next, and last are the disk and volume drivers which actually have the job of getting the raw data off the XP machine's disk(s). (That's vastly oversimplified by the way.)

What the error message really means is "we've run out of 'slots' in the IRP."

The cause can sometimes be as simple as having too many drivers in that chain. If you install anti-virus, it adds its own drivers which also consume IRP slots, as does the firewall, as do various file system filters... and the default IRP size is modest in order to preserve precious kernel memory resources.

This article explains how you can increase the number of 'slots' in each IRP by modifying the IRPStackSize registry parameter (on the XP machine):

Error message: "Not enough server storage is available to process this command"

Try bump IRPStackSize up to 50, then reboot and test access from the Win7 machines again. If that works, go down to 40, reboot, test. If that works, down to 30, reboot, test... The idea is to end up at around 3 to 5 above the point where you experience the onset of symptoms. That allows normal operation while limiting the memory consumption due to needlessly large IRPs.

 

[drbenson]

All hail the Sulfuric who knows! Good explanation, worked like a charm. I had Googled the error message and found out about the IRPStackSize edit, but I would never have figured that it needed to be applied to the XP machine! My little pea brain figured that since it was W7 giving the message the fix would have to be applied there, and I wasn't going to mess with the W7 registry without explicit guidance.

It would sure be great if error messages like that could include a link right to the KB article (wishful thinking).

For anyone else who runs into this issue, the value that works on my setup is 20 (decimal). 15 craps out, 20 works great.

Thanks to all for the help.

 

[sup3rsprt]

have you scanned your computer for Trojans? I personally have never seen the IRP limit reached on any of my machines. But maybe it's just because I don't often run any third-party antivirus or firewall utilities. I also keep my systems very clean and close down most unneeded network sockets.

 

[H2SO4]

It would sure be great if error messages like that could include a link right to the KB article (wishful thinking).

The XP machine only sends back a single number as the status code designator, and that's then translated at the win7 end in order to show a textual representation to the user. Trouble is, there are 4 billion other subtly but significanty different reasons why such an error might occur, and hard-linking to a specific KB article would be guaranteed to be inaccurate at least sometimes.

OS design is tending in that direction, but it's a huge task to try to represent each and every error condition in a way that makes sense to humans who may not be interested in OS internals.

For anyone else who runs into this issue, the value that works on my setup is 20 (decimal). 15 craps out, 20 works great.

Tthat sweet spot will be different in other environments, depending on their precise mix of drivers and the way their machines are used. Vista and Win7 made changes to make the IRPs firstly bigger and secondly more dynamic so that this kind of error from a vista/win7 target should be rarer.

Thanks to all for the help.

No probs. Glad to hear it worked

 

[whatnowwin7]

Perfect Solution

This was the perfect solution for the problem I was having. When I tried to access my WIN XP computer from my WIN 7 computer I received the error "not enough server storage is available to process this command." I followed the instruction to add the registry entry and 'Walla' it was resolved. Thanks for the info!!!! This was been a problem for weeks.

Error message: "Not enough server storage is available to process this command"

 

[whatnowwin7]

The solution worked for me also. I followed the info to update the registry and it worked first time. I set it to 20 nad stopped there. Thanks for the info also.!! Error message: "Not enough server storage is available to process this command"

 

[IainS]

I'd like to record my appreciation to those who have contributed to this thread. I have a laptop (W7), from which I access my desktop (XP). No problems until I had to rebuild the desktop. I restored everything to a new hard drive and it all worked - except for accessing the folders on the desktop from the laptop. I could see them OK, just couldn't open them. Kept getting the "Not enough server storage is available to process this command" message. I was tearing my hair out. This thread kept popping up in my searches, but it all sounded very obscure, so I kept looking and tearing more hair out. Anyway, I decided to try the fix from here, and it worked. I'll sleep better tonight! Many thanks.

 

[DougalS]

...
Not enough server storage is available to process this command.
...

Try bump IRPStackSize up to 50, then reboot and test access from the Win7 machines again. If that works, go down to 40, reboot, test. If that works, down to 30, reboot, test... The idea is to end up at around 3 to 5 above the point where you experience the onset of symptoms. That allows normal operation while limiting the memory consumption due to needlessly large IRPs.

I know this is old thread, but same issue just bit me. For others going through the process above, instead of rebooting after each change, you can restart the Server service (Start, Run, services.msc, scroll down to find and select name Server, click restart).

Edit: you have to restart the server service on the machine you just changed the IRPStackSize vetting on.

Cheers

 

[cluberti]

Note to everyone doing this though, is that while you can increase the IRP stack size, doing so can cause increases in usage of kernel memory pools, and (frankly) if you have to set it higher than the default, it might be worth thinking twice about how many security, backup, scanning, etc. programs that are installed and have registered filter drivers on the I/O stack. IRP == I/O Request Packet, and these are created for EVERY I/O request on the system - having more than a few here can cause system slowness, instability, etc.

If you need to increase it, think twice about what's installed before doing so. Do you really need 5+ filter drivers???

 

[DougalS]

If you need to increase it, think twice about what's installed before doing so. Do you really need 5+ filter drivers???

Will excess filter drivers slow down the host or client network thoughput, or the host drive access or both?

Do you have any simple commands/tools to identify what filter drivers are installed?

I did a search in AutoRuns of the process that include "filter driver" and found amdxata, BrFiltLo, BrFiltHi, btmhfs, LDIDFilt and LMouFilt. Without uninstalling my logitech mouse software, and knowing what the "Windows ME USB Mass-Storage Bulk-Only Lower Filter Driver" from Brother Industries is, not sure how I can reduce my filter drivers.

Cheers