[ntp:questions] Re: ntp.drift contains 9 x 0x00 bytes, and ntp.drift.TEMP is present?

[David J Taylor]

Martin Burnicki wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> David J Taylor wrote:
>> I needed to reboot my Windows XP Pro PC the other day, and I now
>> note that after restart, the ntp.drift file contained 9 bytes of
>> zero, and there was an ntp.drift.TEMP file containing "-17.757",
>> which is about the expected value.  Any idea what might cause ntp to
>> use an alternate drift file, and will it save the correct drift
>> value across the next restart?
>>
>> This is with the Meinberg V4.2.0b at 1.1436 build.
>
> ntpd first writes the ntp.drift.TEMP file, then it deletes a
> previously existing drift file and renams the .TEMP file.
>
> This does not seem to be successful in your environment. I assume the
> account under which ntpd is running does not have sufficient rights
> in the directory where the ntp.drift file shall be located. There
> should be associated entries in the event log.
>
> To fix this you must either grant sufficient rights to the ntp
> account, or you must specify a drift file in  a directory where that
> account has sufficient rights.
>
> Martin

Martin,

Thanks for your input and suggestions.

This installation has been working correctly for about three months, and I 
only noticed the behavour after a reboot.

- ntpd is running under the "ntp" account
- the ntp account has inherited full control access to ntp.drift
- ntp.drift is owned by the ntp account
- the ntp account has inherited full control access to ntp.drift.TEMP
- ntp.drift.TEMP is owned by the ntp account
- the ntp account has full control access to \Program Files\NTP\etc\

I am not aware of changing any permissions, and the loopstats files are 
being correctly created each day.  They are also owned by "ntp".

If I try and delete ntp.drift, it doesn't allow me to as "it is being used 
by another process" (presumably by ntpd).

I did see this in the event log near the time of the reboot:
  Frequency format error in E:\Program Files\NTP\etc\ntp.drift

Cheers,
David