Slow copying of files

We have a problem copying files from Windows Server 2003 64-bit to our local
desktops running Windows XP. For a large number of the desktops, a file copy
of 60 Mb from the server to the local drive can take about 30 minutes to
complete. For other desktops of the same OS, the same file can be copied in
about 5 seconds. For the ones the copy slowly, they can copy that same file
from a Windows 2003 32-bit server or another desktop in 5 seconds. We have
even moved PCs around to swap the network ports used and the problem follows
the PC. We have standardized our desktop and server hardware so the problem
should point to something in the software. There is something fouling up the
communications between some of our Windows XPs and Windows 2003 64-bit and we
are running out of ideas as to what to check. Any tips on what to look at?

Juergen
Thu Aug 02 13:19:13 CDT 2007

Hi,
you could have a look for different tcp/ip settings on the x32 and x64
server especially if NETBIOS over TCP/IP has the same settings (on) which
helps generally for smb/cifs filesharing.
second :
you can have a look for differences on local security settings (dont know
english label) -via : start -> managment -> local security police???
or:
if the servers work as domain controler "security police for domain
controllers"

in these settings look for "digital signing ????"

regards jk

jabloomf1230
Thu Aug 02 16:14:50 CDT 2007

Have you tried robocopy? It comes with Vista, but can also be extracted
from the Windows Resource Toolkit. There is also a freeware GUI for it:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/RoboCopy-GUI-Download-35338.html

robocopy is a MS product and the name stands for robust copy. There are
no frills and it is lightening fast. Well, okay, maybe not THAT fast,
but it is a lot faster than using the Windows explorer which is deathly
slow for copying either large files or large numbers of files. I use it
all the time on my Vista x64 system (so it must be x64 compatible)for
copying folders of big AVI files around my network. There are also 3rd
party programs that do the same thing.

Windows Resource Toolkit download for Windows Server 2003:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9D467A69-57FF-4AE7-96EE-B18C4790CFFD&displaylang=en

James R wrote:
> We have a problem copying files from Windows Server 2003 64-bit to our local
> desktops running Windows XP. For a large number of the desktops, a file copy
> of 60 Mb from the server to the local drive can take about 30 minutes to
> complete. For other desktops of the same OS, the same file can be copied in
> about 5 seconds. For the ones the copy slowly, they can copy that same file
> from a Windows 2003 32-bit server or another desktop in 5 seconds. We have
> even moved PCs around to swap the network ports used and the problem follows
> the PC. We have standardized our desktop and server hardware so the problem
> should point to something in the software. There is something fouling up the
> communications between some of our Windows XPs and Windows 2003 64-bit and we
> are running out of ideas as to what to check. Any tips on what to look at?

Tom
Thu Aug 02 18:27:07 CDT 2007

This might contain something applicable:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931770/

Tom
MSMVP
Windows shell/User


"James R" <James R@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:299C99F9-1B66-464E-AA2C-27D4937F6D2C@microsoft.com...
> We have a problem copying files from Windows Server 2003 64-bit to our
> local
> desktops running Windows XP. For a large number of the desktops, a file
> copy
> of 60 Mb from the server to the local drive can take about 30 minutes
> to
> complete. For other desktops of the same OS, the same file can be
> copied in
> about 5 seconds. For the ones the copy slowly, they can copy that same
> file
> from a Windows 2003 32-bit server or another desktop in 5 seconds. We
> have
> even moved PCs around to swap the network ports used and the problem
> follows
> the PC. We have standardized our desktop and server hardware so the
> problem
> should point to something in the software. There is something fouling
> up the
> communications between some of our Windows XPs and Windows 2003 64-bit
> and we
> are running out of ideas as to what to check. Any tips on what to look
> at?

Homer
Fri Aug 03 09:20:13 CDT 2007

> This might contain something applicable:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931770/

Tom,

While I agree that sometimes a KB article for an OS might apply to another
(registry tweaks, etc), in this case, the article points you to a hotfix.
Are you suggesting the original poster tries to install a Vista hotfix on
XP/2003??

Tom
Sat Aug 04 01:44:07 CDT 2007

OK. You caught me. I was just skimming subject lines before moving on to
other, pressing matters when I spotted this post. Since I recently had
reason to apply the hotfix to several Vista boxes, I thought it worth
pointing to it. In fairness, you must admit that I cautioned, "This might
contain something applicable". Note the "might". Now that I did read the
body of the post, I agree that there is no danger of relevance of that
particular fix.

As for, "install a Vista hotfix on XP/2003??" Aren't you a silly one!
Ha!

--------------
You posted this 5/15/2007 in this forum:

that'll make you feel superior to Microsoft by pointing out their
stupidity.

Personally, I'd just click the button and carry on with my life, but hey,
it's a free world

-------------

Hmmmm. I think I'll take your good advice.


Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User



"Homer J. Simpson" <root@127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:edNYyld1HHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> This might contain something applicable:
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931770/
>
> Tom,
>
> While I agree that sometimes a KB article for an OS might apply to
> another (registry tweaks, etc), in this case, the article points you to
> a hotfix. Are you suggesting the original poster tries to install a
> Vista hotfix on XP/2003??
>

Homer
Sat Aug 04 09:20:18 CDT 2007

> OK. You caught me. I was just skimming subject lines before moving on to
> other, pressing matters when I spotted this post. Since I recently had
> reason to apply the hotfix to several Vista boxes, I thought it worth
> pointing to it. In fairness, you must admit that I cautioned, "This might
> contain something applicable". Note the "might". Now that I did read the
> body of the post, I agree that there is no danger of relevance of that
> particular fix.
>
> As for, "install a Vista hotfix on XP/2003??" Aren't you a silly one! Ha!

Just wanted to make sure you hadn't lost your sanity. :-p

Tom
Sat Aug 04 12:28:47 CDT 2007

Oh, that ship sailed years ago!

"Homer J. Simpson" <root@127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:#iSrgKq1HHA.1336@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> OK. You caught me. I was just skimming subject lines before moving on
>> to other, pressing matters when I spotted this post. Since I recently
>> had reason to apply the hotfix to several Vista boxes, I thought it
>> worth pointing to it. In fairness, you must admit that I cautioned,
>> "This might contain something applicable". Note the "might". Now that
>> I did read the body of the post, I agree that there is no danger of
>> relevance of that particular fix.
>>
>> As for, "install a Vista hotfix on XP/2003??" Aren't you a silly one!
>> Ha!
>
> Just wanted to make sure you hadn't lost your sanity. :-p
>
>

miso
Sat Aug 04 16:06:09 CDT 2007

On Aug 2, 4:27 pm, "Tom Ferguson" <tom.ms...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This might contain something applicable:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931770/
>
> Tom
> MSMVP
> Windows shell/User
>
> "James R" <James R...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in messagenews:299C99F9-1B66-464E-AA2C-27D4937F6D2C@microsoft.com...
>
> > We have a problem copying files from Windows Server 2003 64-bit to our
> > local
> > desktops running Windows XP. For a large number of the desktops, a file
> > copy
> > of 60 Mb from the server to the local drive can take about 30 minutes
> > to
> > complete. For other desktops of the same OS, the same file can be
> > copied in
> > about 5 seconds. For the ones the copy slowly, they can copy that same
> > file
> > from a Windows 2003 32-bit server or another desktop in 5 seconds. We
> > have
> > even moved PCs around to swap the network ports used and the problem
> > follows
> > the PC. We have standardized our desktop and server hardware so the
> > problem
> > should point to something in the software. There is something fouling
> > up the
> > communications between some of our Windows XPs and Windows 2003 64-bit
> > and we
> > are running out of ideas as to what to check. Any tips on what to look
> > at?

Funny thing is I used to get the "0 minutes remaining" when FTPing to
my webhosting server. Not all the time. I haven't seen the problem in
some time so I wonder if it was fixed in an update or service pack.
This is on X64, and again, only seen on ftp. I never had a problem
transferring files on my local network.

Not to drift off the topic too much, but I did encounter a slow down
when transferring directories (folders) containing a large number of
files, maybe 80k of files in some directories. This was from a X64
machine to a win2kpro machine. What I noticed is the file transfers
would slow down after a while, as if the mere fact of creating file
name on the win2kpro machine caused the slowdown. I had about 50Gbyte
to transfer, and it was never finishing. The slow down started at
about 5gBytes of transfer.

As an experiment, I zipped all the files I wanted to transfer.
Transferring the zip file ran about as expected, i.e no slow down.
However, as the files were unzipped on the win2kpro machine, the
extraction slowed down.

I pulled the hard drive from the win2kpro machine, hooked it up to the
X64 machine, with the notion of running the windows exploring to do
the copying. It turns out NTFS on win2k is not the same as NTFS on
X64, making program not work.

The ultimate solution was to use Partition Commander from the boot
CDROM. It transfered the files without a hitch, even though the NTFS
was not the same.