Windows NT 3.51 Checklist

This page was last updated early during the year 2000 and some or all of its content may thus no longer be current or accurate.

PCs Running Windows NT 3.51: Y2K Readiness Checklist

Summary

Hardware	Many industry-standard (also known as "Intel-based" or "IBM-compatible") PCs have a minor hardware problem affecting their internal clocks: instead of rolling over normally from 1999 to 2000, these clocks will instead revert to a different year. There are a variety of methods available for finding and resolving this problem. The Y2K Hardware Problem Affecting Many PCs Windows NT includes integral features which should - to the extent that these features work as described by Microsoft - allow nearly all PCs with Y2K non-compliant hardware to nontheless transition successfully to the year 2000.
Operating System	Microsoft maintains that Windows NT 3.5.1 - if not patched as indicated below - is known to have at least eight Y2K-related issues. As of June 16, 1999, Microsoft maintains that Windows NT Workstation 3.51 can be made Y2K compliant with: Windows NT 3.5.1 Service Pack 5; and A "Post SP5" hot fix that contains patches for all of the known Y2K compliance issues for Windows NT Version 3.51 Service Pack 5.
Application programs	Check for Y2K compliance.
Data files & data sharing methods	Check for Y2K compliance.

1. Hardware

1.1. Find and resolve Y2K hardware problems in your PCs running Windows NT 3.51.

Many industry-standard (also known as "Intel-based" or "IBM-compatible") PCs have a hardware problem affecting their internal clocks: instead of rolling over normally from 1999 to 2000, these clocks will instead revert to a different year (such as 1980).

While this is generally of minor concern, an invalid date could nonetheless cause problems for certain application programs. A small fraction of these problems could potentially have serious impacts. As a result, it's preferable to find and resolve this problem before the year 2000 arrives. The Y2K Hardware Problem Affecting Many PCs

describes how to do so. Here's a summary:

You can identify which PCs will be subject to this problem by checking with vendors or by using manual or automated software tests.

There are at least ten different methods you can use to prevent the problem from occurring on your non-compliant PCs. Among these:

Running an operating system, such as Linux and recent versions of Windows NT, that incorporates a date correction feature;
Leaving your PCs turned off over the century transition and using a specific procedure to manually set their dates when they are first started up during the year 2000;
Installing small software programs that automatically correct the date;
"Flash" updating the software in the BIOS chips in your recently-manufactured PCs to make these chips Y2K compliant;
Synchronizing your computers' dates over a network;
Upgrading PCs with BIOS add-in cards or other hardware.

Each of these methods has its own particular advantages, limitations, and drawbacks, which are described in the above document.

As a fallback, you can manually reset your problematic PCs to the correct date when the year 2000 arrives. After doing so, all (or nearly all) of your PCs should then continue to maintain the correct date throughout the year 2000 and beyond.

Windows NT 3.5.1 may be able to correct for nearly all PC Y2K hardware problems

Windows NT includes integral features which should - to the extent that these features work as described by Microsoft - allow nearly all PCs with Y2K non-compliant hardware to nontheless transition successfully to the year 2000.

Microsoft claims in its white paper, Windows Operating System Interactions with BIOS and Real Time Clock that when Windows NT (both versions 3.5.1 and 4.0) boots, it reads the current date from a PC's Real-Time Clock (RTC). If the RTC's date falls within the years 1900 through 1919, NT will add 100 to the year, changing it to the correct year in the range from 2000 to 2019. As described, this mechanism should be able to effectively correct invalid dates even on PCs with non-compliant BIOS chips.

In addition to correcting the date at boot time, NT can also continually correct the date thereafter. An NT "time daemon" runs approximately once an hour, and can "update the operating system time and date to be consistent with the [corrected date from the] RTC" if they are more than one minute apart.

Finally, Microsoft notes that applications can't bypass Windows NT to obtain an (incorrect) date from a PC's hardware. "The Windows NT operating system prohibits applications from directly accessing the RTC/BIOS combination" to obtain the current date and time. All programs which use Microsoft's programming routines (APIs) will obtain the date from the Windows NT operating system, rather than directly from the PC's hardware.

What are the limitations of Windows NT's date correction features?

The following are three minor limitations of Windows NT's date correction features:

An invalid BIOS century counter could go uncorrected for up to about one hour.

The Windows NT system time on a PC which is left turned on at midnight on December 31, 1999 would correctly transition to 12:01 am (and so on) on January 1, 2000. However, under some circumstances, the "century counter" in a PC's non-volatile memory (CMOS-RAM), which is maintained by the PC's BIOS chip, might not be updated from "19" (representing the 1900s) to "20" (representing the 2000s) for up to one hour later, when Windows NT's "time daemon" is next run.

This could conceivably cause problems in a few cases if a PC's BIOS recognizes "1900" as an invalid date and has been programmed, when it first detects that date, to put up a request for the correct date. This could also cause incorrect dates to be supplied to a non-Windows NT operating system if your PC is set up in a dual boot configuration, and you restart your PC under the other operating system during that brief time window.

This minor problem is present in both Windows NT 3.5.1 and NT 4.0. Only the three newest Service Pack levels of NT 4.0, SP6, SP5, and SP4, address it. Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6 incorporates a fix for this problem. Service Pack 5 also includes a fix for this problem; however, Microsoft further revised this fix subsequent to the release of Service Pack 5. Thus, if your PC is running either NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 or Service Pack 4, you can correct this problem by installing the latest "BIOS Date Value Year 2000 Update", which you can download from links in Microsoft's Support Online article BIOS Date Value Does Not Immediately Update on January 1, 2000
It will be ineffective on the small number (estimated at 0.1%) of PCs which can't retain dates in the year 2000 and beyond .

These PCs have extremely non-compliant BIOSes which are unable to transition to the year 2000, as they only recognize years in the range from 1994 to 1999 (and from 2094 to 2099) as valid.

As Microsoft notes in its white paper, Windows Operating System Interactions with BIOS and Real Time Clock , Windows NT also regards years in these ranges as valid, and so its date correction mechanism will not work with these computers. (In actuality, Windows NT regards most - but not all - years in these ranges as valid, as described below.)

With these PCs, you'll thus need to use some other method of correcting their invalid dates.
It will not correct invalid or incorrect BIOS dates in the range from 1920 through 1999.

According to the February 1999 white paper Is Y2K BIOS testing necessary under Windows NT 4.0? by Y2K tools vendor WRQ, Inc., Window NT recognizes BIOS dates from 1900 through 1919 as invalid and applies date correction logic, changing these to dates in the year range from 2000 through 2019, respectively.

However, Windows NT always recognizes BIOS dates from 1996 through 1999 as valid - regardless of what the current year actually is.

In addition, Windows NT recognizes BIOS dates from 1920 through 1995 as invalid, but does not automatically correct such dates. Rather, when Windows NT detects an invalid date during login, it "will warn the user with a system-modal Message Box immediately after login," leaving it "up to the user to manually set the date." As WRQ points out, "any Startup group or userinit applications will most likely start before the user is able to set a correct date. In addition, Windows NT does not warn of an invalid date when Novell's IntraNetWare Client is present."

2. Operating system

2.1. Check Microsoft's Web site for the latest updates to its Y2K compliance statement for Windows NT 3.51.

Over time, Microsoft has made revisions to its Y2K compliance statements for Windows NT and many other Microsoft operating systems and applications. As a result, it's probably a good idea to schedule one or two checks, later in 1999, to see whether Microsoft might have once again revised its Y2K Product Summary for Windows NT 3.51 Workstation .

Another way to find the Microsoft's Y2K compliance statement for Windows NT 3.51

If the direct link to the Y2K Product Summary for Windows NT 3.51 should later be moved or otherwise doesn't work, you should be able to navigate to this statement via Microsoft's Year 2000 Product Guide

On that page, scroll down to the subhead "Search for Microsoft Products." In the list of products below, scroll down to the category "Operating Systems". You may need to scroll down a bit further to see and click either "Windows NT Workstation" and "Windows NT Server", depending on which version you're running on your PC. Then click the "Perform Search" button. This will generate a list of compliance statements for various releases and language versions of Windows NT 3.51.

2.2. Install Service Pack 5 for NT 3.51 and the Y2K-fix Hot Fix.

The following instructions were current as of May 1999. If Microsoft should subsequently release a revised Y2K compliance statement for Windows NT 3.51, it's possible that these instructions might be out of date. Be sure to check Microsoft's latest Y2K compliance statement for updates (see section 2.1 above).

Before installing any updates or patches which may alter your computer's operating system software or application programs, and before making any changes to your critical documents (data files), be sure that you have a complete, current backup of your computer's data.

For general backup advice, see the Berkeley Computing and Communications articles
Ask Dr. Micro: How can I back up the files on my computer

and
Simplify your life with the UCBackup service

Microsoft provides Y2K updates for Windows NT 3.51 in the form of the Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack 5 (SP5) and a post-SP5 hot fix (Y2K-fix). You can download both of these at no cost from Microsoft's FTP site, in the following directories:

Microsoft's FTP directory for the Windows NT 3.51 Workstation and Server U.S. Service Pack 5

Microsoft's FTP directory for the Post-SP5 Y2K hot fix

There are two executable files provided in this directory. The file y2k351-i.exe is for industry-standard PCs with Intel (and compatible) processors, and thus is the file that most PC users will need to download.

Both of the FTP directories above also include README.TXT files which provide instructions for installing SP5 and the Post-SP5 Y2K hot fix. We recommend that you read these files (and perhaps print them for future reference) before downloading and installing this software.

Remaining Y2K issues in Windows NT 3.51

Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine

If you run programs written in the Java programming language that use certain date-related capabilities, you might need to separately update your Microsoft Virtual Machine ["VM"] to address some minor date-related issues.

If you perform critical, date-related tasks using Java programs, we suggest that you first install the Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack 5 and the Y2K-fix hot fix, then check the version number of your Microsoft VM and look up its Y2K compliance status. Microsoft's Y2K Product Summary for the Microsoft Virtual Machine describes how to do so in the section "How can users determine what version of the Microsoft VM they are using?"

2.3. (Optional, but recommended) Change Microsoft Windows NT's default short date style to display dates with full, four-digit years.

Many personal computer operating systems are set "at the factory" to display dates with two-digit years, such as "05/13/29". These dates are century-ambiguous; they could reasonably be interpreted as falling within either within the 20th or 21st centuries.

It is usually beneficial to change your operating system's "short date style" to display dates using four-digit years, such as "05/13/1929" or "05/13/2029". When you do this, your application programs that use this display format will also start displaying dates with four-digit years. This can help you in three ways:

You can now see immediately, when you enter dates with two-digit years, whether your program has assigned these dates to the 20th or 21st century.
In some circumstances, this can help prevent dates with century-ambiguous two-digit years from being exported to text files or copied to the Clipboard.
With a few application programs, this may enable you to enter a wider range of dates.

For details, see Changing Your Operating System's Default Date Format To Use Four-Digit Years

.

As a related measure, we also recommend that you follow the practice of entering dates with four-digit years, such as "05/13/1929" or "05/13/2029". For details, see Why You Should Enter Dates With Four-Digit Years Whenever Possible

Here's how to change Windows NT 3.5.1's default short date style to display four-digit years:

Use the International option in the Control Panel to change Windows NT 3.51's default short date style.
In the Date Format box, choose the Change button and check the Century (1990 vs. 90) box.

Caveats

If you change your operating system's default date format to use four-digit years:

A very small number of programs could exhibit undesirable side effects.
You may encounter display and printing problems with certain programs and data files.
This could potentially cause problems when sharing data with other programs that aren't expecting to receive dates with four-digit years.

For details, see Changing Your Operating System's Default Date Format To Use Four-Digit Years

.

More information

It is desirable that you and your department, as well as others outside your department with whom you share data, standardize on a common date format which uses four-digit years.

There are two primary standards you might consider using within your UC Berkeley campus department to represent dates with unambiguous four-digit years: mm/dd/yyyy (a de facto standard in the USA) or yyyy-mm-dd (an International standard, ISO 8601). These methods would represent May 13, 2029, respectively, as as either "05/13/2029" or "2029-05-13".

Nearly all programs should work well with either of these date formats. Nonetheless, there may be a few application programs which cannot properly handle dates entered in one or both of these four-digit-year formats.

Standards for Representing Dates

2.4. (Optional) Update the OLE Automation Libraries, if necessary.

A potential problem in Windows 95, NT 3.5.1, and later versions of Microsoft Windows is that certain Windows Service Packs and application programs install different versions of the files associated with the OLE Automation Libraries. These Automation Libraries tell the Windows operating system and many application programs how to interpret century-ambiguous dates with two-digit years, such as "05/13/29", as either May 13, 1929 or May 13, 2029.

As described in The Windows Automation Libraries Determine How Dates Entered With Two-Digit Years Are Handled the date-handling behavior of these libraries has changed three times over the years. If you install a program that overwrites your current Automation Libraries files with a different version of these files, the way that Windows and many of your application programs interpret two-digit dates might suddenly change.

Of particular concern, versions of the Automation Libraries prior to 2.20.00.4054 will always interpret two-digit dates from "00" through "99" as falling within the period from "1900" to "1999", which will probably not be desirable when the year 2000 arrives. For this reason, you might want to check to make sure that you're using version 2.20.00.4054 or higher.

Microsoft's White Paper
The Automation Libraries and the Year 2000 , describes how to check your version of the OLE Automation Libraries:

Click the Start button, select the Find menu item, and click on "Files or Folders..." In the "Name & Location" tab, type (without quotes) "oleaut32.dll" in the field titled "Named." Select the drive in the "Look in" field that your operating system lives on (usually (C:) ). Click "Find Now." When the file shows up in the box below, right click on the file and select "Properties." Click the right hand tab that says "Version."

3. Application programs

3.1. Check custom-written programs for Y2K compliance.

Custom-written (or "customized") application programs have been written "from scratch" or else extensively modified to perform a customized set of tasks for a specific customer. Some campus departments are running such applications, which typically have been created by departmental programmers or outside consultants. Often, these programs were built using programming or scripting languages, database management systems, or client/server tools.

Custom-written programs are at considerable risk for Y2K problems. Some of these programs may not work properly in the year 2000, or may encounter problems when handling dates from the year 2000 and beyond. If one or more of these programs are of significant importance to your campus department, it is essential that you find and resolve their Y2K problems. It is also imperative that you begin your work as early as possible, as the process of identifying, fixing, and testing fixes to custom applications can often be very time consuming.

Custom Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems can direct you to resources to help you find and resolve Y2K problems in custom applications. In particular, you can obtain a great deal of assistance from the Web pages of the UC Berkeley campus's Year 2000 Departmental Customized Applications Subcommittee, which has identified a phase-by-phase process that can guide you in carrying out this work.

3.2. Check off-the-shelf application programs for Y2K compliance.

It appears likely that most commercial off-the-shelf application programs will work fine in the year 2000. However, some application programs are known to have Y2K problems or issues, ranging from minor to severe. If some of these application programs are important to your department or to your own research or instructional work, you'll need to resolve their Y2K problems before the year 2000 arrives. To do this, we suggest that you:

Identify your critical application programs.

Prioritizing: Identifying Your Critical Computers & Software lists representative examples of critical tasks that your computer might be performing, which may help you identify your critical application programs.

To ensure that you're not overlooking any critical programs, Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems describes how you can use automated software tools to generate an inventory list of all of the programs installed on your computer.
Determine which of these applications are not Y2K compliant.

You can do this in a variety of ways, including:
- Viewing a list of the Y2K Compliance Status of Selected Off-the-Shelf Applications Used at UC Berkeley .
- Checking vendor Web sites, as well as lists and searchable databases of product Y2K compliance available on the Web.
  
  You can find a summary of these resources in Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Resources for Identifying Y2K Compliance .
- Using automated software tools which report on the Y2K compliance status of your applications.
  
  Software Tools for Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems lists some of the tools you might use for this purpose.
  
  The section on Inventory & compliance status tools in the document Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems discusses limitations you might encounter when using such tools.
Resolve problems with non-compliant applications.

Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems includes general checklists that can guide you through the process of resolving Y2K problems in non-compliant application programs.

If some of your programs have only minor Y2K issues, you might in some cases be able to continue to use these applications. However, most non-compliant programs will need to be patched, updated, upgraded, replaced, or retired.

4. Data files & data sharing methods

4.1. Check data files for Y2K compliance.

Data files, including spreadsheets and database files, can harbor Y2K problems. If some of these files are important to your department, or your personal research or instructional work, you'll need to resolve their date-related problems before the year 2000 arrives.

The Berkeley Computing and Communications article Checking your data for Y2K problems provides a overview, and the document Data Files: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems describes in somewhat more detail how to check your data files to find and resolve Y2K problems. The following are some key points mentioned in both of these documents:

The primary areas of Y2K-related concern in data files are:

Custom macros, scripts, and user-defined functions.

Some spreadsheet and database files may incorporate custom-written macros, scripts, or user-defined functions which improperly handle dates.
Standard date functions.

Many spreadsheet and database programs provide standard date-related functions which are known to have Y2K-related "usage issues." Examples include Microsoft Excel's =DATE(), Microsoft Access's =DateSerial(), and Lotus 1-2-3's @YEAR().
Dates stored as text or numbers.

Dates stored in spreadsheet cells or database fields as text (e.g., "02/21/15") or integers (e.g., "990405"), may present risks when these values are converted to dates, or when they are compared or sorted.

In addition, we encourage you to take four specific steps to help keep Y2K problems out of your data files

in the future.

4.2. Check data sharing methods for Y2K compliance.

Data shared between application programs could in some cases present Y2K problems. You can find guidance on finding and resolving these problems in Data Sharing Methods: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems .

Methods of sharing data which are at risk include documents exchanged via disks, e-mail attachments, and file servers; data copied and pasted via the Clipboard; and programmatic data streams between programs.

To find situations where you'll need to check your data sharing methods for potential Y2K problems, ask yourself three questions:

Do you export data containing century-ambiguous dates, such as "05/13/29", from any of your programs?
Do you import data containing century-ambiguous dates into any of your programs?
Do you share any files (such as spreadsheet or database files) containing dates stored as text or numbers, rather than as dates?

Find something unclear? Missing? Incomplete? Inaccurate? Or even praiseworthy? Send us feedback about this Web site!

This site is provided by the campus Year 2000 Departmental Computers and Administrative Equipment Subcommittee at the University of California, Berkeley.

Copyright 1999 by the Regents of the University of California.
Disclaimer: The University assumes no liability if the information on this page is used for other than University purposes.