The Explorer shell may stop responding when viewing the recent documents if it contains a document that resides in SharePoint Portal Server.

This problem is caused by a deadlock between two threads. When the Explorer shell is loading the SharePoint library Msonsext.dll file, the .dll file requests a lock that is already in use by another thread in the process. When this occurs, the Explorer shell seems to stop responding.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you have installed SharePoint Portal Server 2001 Service Pack 3 or a later service pack, you do not have to apply the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem was first corrected in SharePoint Portal Server 2001 Service Pack 3.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next SharePoint Portal Server 2001 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question. The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version         Size       File name
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   09-Jan-2003  07:43  10.145.6011.3   1,327,104  Msonsext.dll     
 

Note Because of file dependencies, this update requires Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001 Service Pack 2 (http://www.kbAlertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=312963)

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
This problem was first corrected in SharePoint Portal Server 2001 Service Pack 3.