XCLN: Dr. Watson Crash When Windows NT Client is Installed

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When a user who is not a member of the local administrator group attempts to install a Microsoft Exchange Client for Windows NT on a Windows NT Workstation or Windows NT Server using the NTFS file system, and a local administrator has never logged onto the computer and run the Microsoft Exchange Client Setup, the setup process will get approximately 61% of the way through and then crash. The following information, among other things, is displayed in the Dr. Watson log:

   Application exception occurred:
      App:  [Pid number of occurrence]
      Time: [Time of occurrence]
      Exception number: c0000005 (access violation)

The above information is only applicable when you attempt install from the .CAB files. The symptoms are slightly different when you attempt to install from a shared install point (created by an administrator running SETUP /A). In this case, instead of receiving a Dr. Watson log, the user will receive a messagebox informing them that the installation was unsuccessful but not giving a reason.

CAUSE

When Windows NT is installed, the Mapi.dll file is installed into the %WINNT%\SYSTEM32 directory with Read permissions (RX) for everyone, except the members of the administrator group who have Full permissions. During installation of the Microsoft Exchange Client for Windows NT, the Mapi.dll must be upgraded and the rights to this file must be changed to Change rights (RWXD). If the user attempting the install is not a member of the local administrators group, this file cannot be upgraded nor can the rights be changed. This causes the crash.

RESOLUTION

The first user who attempts to install the Microsoft Exchange Client for Windows NT on this computer must be a member of the local administrator group.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in version 4.0 of the Microsoft Exchange Client for Windows NT. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.