Problems with Time Capsule disk and Windows clients - FIX

This is just an informational post to help anyone the may be experiencing issues on Windows clients such as connection problems to the Time Capsule disk or even BSOD when copying files.

I did some searching on the web and came across a Apple support thread with people experiencing the above issues, as I. Some helpful postings pointed out that the issue occurs on Windows computers connected to a TC running the 7.4.2 or 7.4.1 firmware. Apparently Apple made some changes in these versions that just don't play nice with Windows. Per several suggestions, I downgraded the firmware to 7.3.2 and viola, everything is working perfectly.

More info on BSOD: The driver that causes the stop message is rdbss.sys.

To download the 7.3.2 firmware in Windows, launch Airport Utility and from the File menu, hold Ctrl and select "Check for updates". You will be able to load 7.3.2 using the "Upload Firmware" utility un the Base Station menu.

Also, I read that the newer TC models cannot be downgraded to 7.3.2. People mention issue with those models, but I did not notice any solution. I have an original TC, and my problem has been resolved.

 

Apple must of changed something in the SMB/CIFS file sharing service (Samba?) with the firmware versions mentioned. When I would start copying files, a BSOD would happen almost immediately. I read some other posts on the internet that stated the same BSOD would occur when copying files From Windows to a Linux Samba share as well. I don't know which version of Samba specifically nor do I know if the TC uses Samba, but MS apparently changed something in the "Client for Microsoft Networks" services that doesn't cooperate with these versions of SMB servers. I do know Microsoft introduced SMBv2 in Windows Vista/7. Maybe it is related.

I did nothing other than downgrade the TC firmware and now it is working perfectly. That probably rules out Aiport Utility.