\[Editor's Note: Solve this month's Windows NT problem and get the chance to win $100 or a copy of one of the author's books about NT. Email your solutions to [email protected]. Include your full name, mailing address, and connection to NT (e.g., administrator, user). Because of the number of entries, we cannot reply to all respondents. To add to the author's collection of NT problems, email problems and solutions to [email protected]. Look for the solution to this month's problem in the March issue. For the solutions to the September Reader Challenge, see "September Winners."\]
Preemptive multitasking (and the swap file that makes it work) is the greatest invention since the dishwasher. Windows NT automatically transfers data from physical memory to the hard disk when the physical memory is exhausted, and applications that are running don't notice a difference.
Problem
Although NT copies data to the swap file (pagefile.sys) automatically, swapping does not always run flawlessly. Clients often call me when they receive error messages about the swap file. The following are some common swap file questions. See how many answers you can provide.
- I dislike having to keep a lot of disk space free for the swap file. What are the rules about minimum size?
- I received the following error message at startup: Limited Virtual Memory. Your system is running without a properly sized paging file. Please use the virtual memory option of the System applet in Control Panel to create a paging file or to increase the initial size of your paging file. I followed these directions, but I'm still getting this message at startup. How do I fix this problem?
- I'm dual-booting NT 4.0 with Windows 95. Do I need two swap files, or can I use one swap file for both operating systems (OSs)?
- I added a hard disk because my original disk was running out of space. How do I put the system swap file on drive D?
To win, you must answer each question completely. Send in your solutions quickly, or we won't be able to consider them before our press deadline.
September Winners
We received no correct solutions to the September Reader Challenge before our press deadline. Many readers solved the first problem, and a few solved the second problem. But no one solved the third problem.
The brief solutions follow. For a complete explanation, see the Windows NT Magazine Web site (http://www.winntmag.com). Enter 4424 in the InstaNT Doc text box.
Problem 1
How do you use one printer for overnight printing and immediate printing?
Solution 1
Create a second (phony) printer, using the same driver on the same port as the original printer.
Problem 2
What is the quickest way to force a print job when you have another print job stuck in the queue?
Solution 2
Stop the spooler service, and delete the spool and shadow files from \%systemroot\system32\Spool\Printers. Then, restart the spooler service. For TCP/IP printers, you must stop TCP/IP services, which can have serious side effects. Ensure that you aren't interfering with other TCP/IP services, especially services remote users need.
Problem 3
From her NT workstation, an administrator configures two printers to print banner pages. The administrator receives no error messages, but only one printer prints the banner pages. Why?
Solution 3
The printer attached to the administrator's NT machine will print the banner pages, but the other printer is apparently attached to a Windows 95 or Win98 workstation and thus won't print the banner pages. Win95 and Win98 require you to configure banner pages at the machine attached to the printer. (Many readers thought that the printer did not print the banner pages because the administrator did not have the appropriate rights to configure the printer. If the administrator did not have permissions to configure the printer, she would have received an error message.)
