Cannot Start More Than 100 Services
Article ID: 175937
Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
This article was previously published under Q175937
SYMPTOMS
The number of simultaneously running services is limited to 100 (excluding
all shared services that run under the Services.exe process, such as
Alerter, Browser, EventLog, LanmanServer, LanmanWorkstation, LMHOSTS,
Messenger, and so on).
When you try to start an additional service, you receive the following error message:
All pipe instances are busy.
NOTE: This does not apply to Microsoft Windows 2000. The MAX_INSTANCES constraint has been removed.
CAUSE
The Service Control Manager (that is, Services.exe) creates a pipe for each
of the services it starts. This pipe is used for interprocess communication
between the Service Control Manager and the process of the service. The
maximum number of pipe instances is hard-coded to 100.
Keywords: kberrmsg kbinfo kbhotfixserver KB175937