Full 1.7 Install -> "Insufficient disk space to repair security descriptor at index $SII for file 9"Re:

[Stephen M. Kneton]

I got mixed results with the work around of installing packages a few at 
at time. One worked, and one ended up unbootable again.

I restored both the XP Pro and XP MediaCenter systems that got eaten by
chkdsk with the message about  "Insufficient disk space to repair security
descriptor at index $SII for file 9" after an all-at-once install of 
everything in 1.7.

These both have the manufactures re-preinstall partition that wipes the 
C: drive
and restores it to factory default from a compressed hidden partition if 
you
press the right magic keys during POST to run Acronis TruImage or similar.

The XP MediaCenter system ntfs partition had been resized with gparted 
to make
 room for a linux install. The re-preinstall honored the existing 
partitions. The XP
 Pro ntfs partition had been copied to a larger disk but not resized and 
the extra
 space used for a linux install. The re-preinstall honored the existing 
partitions. Both
 returned no errors to a chkdsk with automatically fix errors and scan 
for bad
 sectors and the systems booted fine afterwards.

After they were patched up to SP3 and current "critical" fixes I did the 
minimal
 install of 1.7 before iterating through setup installing 5 packages at 
a time doing
 non-destructive chkdsk runs in between iterations.

When everything was installed I ran setup one more time and clicked the 
top line
 like you would do for an all-at-once install. It just installed those 
packages like the
 gcc test suite that get reinstalled every time.

At that point, both system would reboot into windows just fine so I 
scheduled a
 chkdsk to automatically fix errors and search for bad sectors and 
rebooted again.
 The XP MediaCenter system got no error and rebooted OK. The XP Pro System
 got the "File 9" error and went into infinite reboot.

It's pretty clear that the damage is done by chkdsk due to a bug in XP. 
I perused
 Microsoft bug info and there have been multiple similar problems in the 
past. For
 example at one point more than 4 million files on a volume caused a 
similar issue. I
 also found a few reports from other people having this problem with XP 
SP3 which
 supposedly has all the hot fixes rolled up.

I don't know if I'm the only one reporting this because the partitions 
were either
 resized or moved (sort of like the problems Vista has with resized 
ntfs) or because
 of the re-preinstall using Acronis TruImage or something similar, or 
just because
 most people don't run chkdsk with with the options to automatically fix 
errors and
 scan for bad sectors. But, it's happed to me repeatable on two 
different systems
 with different versions of XP and that's spooky.

Neither system uses domains or network shares. The only other variable I 
can think of is that I tend to defrag my filesystems on a fairly regular 
basis, but only after chkdsk has completed cleanly like in step 2 below.

So, if some brave soul(s) wants to prove that it's just me and my 
systems here is
the procedure to run through.

1 Completely remove Cygwin from your system.

2. In My Computer right click on your C: drive, select properties then 
the tools
tab and scan now. Check both the automatically fix and scan for bad sectors
 options and say scan now.  When it asks if you want to run the scan the 
next
time you boot click Yes and then restart the system and make sure 
everything is
 clean.

3. Create the C:\cygwin folder

4. Download setup-1.7.exe to the C:\cygwin folder

5. From the start menu run box execute c:\cygwin\setup-1.7.exe

6. Use all the default folders and options and install using http from 
mirrors.kernel.org

7.  In the package selection dialog, click next the to very top entry to 
change
from default to install which will perform the all-at-once install of 
everything in 1.7.

8. Let the download/install/post-install finish.

9. Repeat step 2 to run chkdsk again and see if your system is still usable
 afterward.  If you get an error about security descriptors it's 
probably toast.

10. Post your results


FYI,

Steve





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