[thelist] error: windows cannot log you on please increase y our registry size

Thu Oct 21 16:12:55 CDT 2004

> Anybody get this? And fix it?

Here's an article on it:
PSS ID Number: 124594
Article Last Modified on 8/29/2003

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server 
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional 
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server 
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5 
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51 
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 
Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5 
Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51 
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0

This article was previously published under Q124594 
SUMMARY
This article describes Registry Size Limit (RSL) and tells how to configure
it. 
MORE INFORMATION
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious
problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft
cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry
Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

By default, RSL is 25 percent of the size of paged pool. Setting up the size
of paged pool (see PagedPoolSize value of the Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management) also affects the size of RSL. 

You can also manually set the RSL: 

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE). 
Locate the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control. 
Modify the value RegistrySizeLimit (create it first it if it does not
already exist) to reflect the desired size, in terms of bytes. 

NOTE: RegistrySizeLimit must have a type of REG_DWORD, and a data length of
4 bytes, or it is ignored. If you set the value RegistrySizeLimit to less
than 4 megabytes (MB), it is forced up to 4 MB. If you set it to greater
than about 80 percent of the size of paged pool, it is set down to 80
percent of the size of paged pool (it is assumed that paged pool is always
more than 5 MB). If you set it to 0xffffffff the maximum size allowable (or
80 percent of paged pool, up to 102 MB) is set. 
Shut down and restart Windows NT for changes in RSL to take effect.
Note A system restart is required after the RSL has been increased either
through the graphical user interface (GUI) or the registry, because this
change does not happen dynamically. If you do not restart the system, you
may experience the following event: 
Event Type: Error 
Event Source: Userenv 
Event Category: None 
Event ID: 1000 
Date: date
Time: time
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM Computer: name
Description: RegLoadKey failed. Return value Insufficient system resources
exist to complete the requested service for C:\Documents and
Settings\ntuser.dat.
In Windows NT 4.0, and Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, the maximum
paged pool size is 192 MB, so RSL can be a maximum of 153.6 MB. For
additional information, click the article number below to view the article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 
142719 NT Reports Out of Resources Error When Memory is Available 
In Windows 2000, the maximum paged pool size is approximately 370-400 MB,
when you do not use the /3gb command-line switch (this makes the RSL greater
than 296 MB). If you use the /3gb switch, these values remain unchanged from
Windows NT 4.0. 
Additional Notes on RSL
RSL sets a maximum, not an allocation (unlike some other such limits in the
system). Setting a large RSL will NOT cause the system to use that much
space unless it is actually needed by the Registry. It also does NOT
guarantee that that much space will be available for use in the Registry. 

In Windows NT version 3.1, paged pool defaults to 32 MB, so the default RSL
is 8 MB (enough to support approximately 5000 user accounts). In Windows NT
3.5, paged pool can be set to a maximum of 128 MB, so RSL can be no larger
than about 102 MB (enough to support approximately 80,000 users; however,
other system limitations might keep this number of users considerably
lower). 

RSL includes space in the hives themselves, as well as some of the
Registry's runtime structures. Other runtime structures are either billed
against standard quota, or are protected by size limits and serialization. 

To ensure that you can always at least boot and edit the Registry if you set
RSL incorrectly, quota checking is not turned on until after the first
successful loading of a hive (that is, loading a user profile). 

For all but a few domain controllers, RSL never needs to be changed. 

The limitations imposed by RSL are approximate. 

For more information on the Registry size limit, search on the keyword
"RegistrySizeLimit" in the Windows NT Registry Entries Help file found in
the Windows NT version 3.5 Resource Kit, or query on the following keyword
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   RSL

Additional query words: prodnt
Keywords: KB124594 
Technology: kbwin2000AdvServ kbwin2000AdvServSearch kbwin2000DataServ
kbwin2000DataServSearch kbwin2000Pro kbwin2000ProSearch kbwin2000Search
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Rob