diff --git a/lib/net/ldap.rb b/lib/net/ldap.rb
index 0c79b92..d9ad70c 100644
--- a/lib/net/ldap.rb
+++ b/lib/net/ldap.rb
@@ -308,6 +308,7 @@ class Net::LDAP
   DefaultPort = 389
   DefaultAuth = { :method => :anonymous }
   DefaultTreebase = "dc=com"
+	DefaultForceNoPage = false
 
   StartTlsOid = "1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.20037"
 
@@ -370,6 +371,8 @@ class Net::LDAP
   #   specifying the Hash {:method => :simple_tls}. There is a fairly large
   #   range of potential values that may be given for this parameter. See
   #   #encryption for details.
+  # * :force_no_page => Set to true to prevent paged results even if your
+  #   server says it supports them. This is a fix for MS Active Directory
   #
   # Instantiating a Net::LDAP object does <i>not</i> result in network
   # traffic to the LDAP server. It simply stores the connection and binding
@@ -380,6 +383,7 @@ class Net::LDAP
     @verbose = false # Make this configurable with a switch on the class.
     @auth = args[:auth] || DefaultAuth
     @base = args[:base] || DefaultTreebase
+		@force_no_page = args[:force_no_page] || DefaultForceNoPage
     encryption args[:encryption] # may be nil
 
     if pr = @auth[:password] and pr.respond_to?(:call)
@@ -1092,6 +1096,10 @@ class Net::LDAP
   # MUST refactor the root_dse call out.
   #++
   def paged_searches_supported?
+		# active directory returns that it supports paged results. However
+		# it returns binary data in the rfc2696_cookie which throws an
+		# encoding exception breaking searching.		
+		return false if @force_no_page
     @server_caps ||= search_root_dse
     @server_caps[:supportedcontrol].include?(Net::LDAP::LdapControls::PagedResults)
   end
@@ -1387,6 +1395,10 @@ class Net::LDAP::Connection #:nodoc:
         search_attributes.to_ber_sequence
       ].to_ber_appsequence(3)
 
+			# rfc2696_cookie sometimes contains binary data from Microsoft Active Directory
+			# this breaks when calling to_ber. (Can't force binary data to UTF-8)
+			# we have to disable paging (even though server supports it) to get around this...
+
       controls = []
       controls <<
         [