14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is offering a hotfix for download designed to resolve an issue in which users running Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and earlier experience crashes when also having McAfee Endpoint Encryption installed. According to the Redmond company, the issue affects both Vista SP2/SP1 customers, as well as those with Windows Server 2008 SP2 or SP1. The software giant notes that STOP: 0x000000E3 is the error presented when the computer crashes, an error message which is accompanied by a blue screen. While Microsoft has pointed to McAfee Endpoint Encryption, fact is that the company notes that customers running other encryption software might also be affected and might experience the same problem.
“You have a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. This computer has encryption software installed. Occasionally, the computer crashes and you receive a Stop error message on a blue screen. The Stop error message resembles the following: STOP: 0x000000E3 (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4) RESOURCE_NOT_OWNED,” Microsoft explained. “The four parameters in the Stop error message may vary, depending on the configuration of the computer.”
It is important for customers to understand that the STOP: 0x000000E3 error messages are related to additional issues and not just the problem described above. Microsoft indicated that “this [particular] issue occurs because the Redirected Drive Buffering SubSystem (RDBSS), tries to release a resource that it cannot obtain.”
A hotfix can be grabbed from Microsoft Support immediately. However, customers that are in no way affected by the issue described above need not deploy the fix. According to Microsoft, users of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have nothing to worry about. “To apply this hotfix, your computer must be running one of the following operating systems: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2),” the company stated.