XADM: Admin Incorrectly Creates an MS Mail Connector Mailbox

• Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 5.0, 5.5

SYMPTOMS

When using the Microsoft Exchange Administrator's program to view the properties of the Microsoft Mail Connector object in the Connections container, the following error is displayed:

   Extension 'MS' could not be loaded. An error occurred during file
   replication. Unable to find the extension .dll file with the correct
   version number. To view details of the error, see the application event
   log in the Windows NT event viewer on the Microsoft Exchange server
   computer.
   Microsoft Exchange Administrator
   ID No: c1030ad1

MORE INFORMATION

The dialog presents three command buttons; Abort, Retry, and Ignore. If you choose Ignore, the Microsoft Mail Connector dialog is displayed with non- standard types of dialog tabs. In other words, there may be a Queues tab, an Export Container tab, an Import Container tab, and so forth.

If you click Queues tab, an EDK gateway mailbox is created in the Information Store for the Microsoft Mail Connector. This mailbox causes mail to and from Microsoft Mail recipients to be placed in this mailbox rather than in the MTA queue. The mail trapped in this mailbox is unrecoverable.

CAUSE

This problem may occur for either of the following reasons:

Case 1

The Microsoft Exchange Administrator program cannot load an Admin extension required when displaying the Microsoft Mail Connector dialog box. This problem causes the dialog box to be displayed.

Case 2

When you click the Ignore button on the dialog box mentioned above, it displays an incorrect default property page. This default property page includes the Queues tab and clicking it causes the creation of the mailbox.

RESOLUTION

The two resolutions match the two listed in the previous section.

Case 1

Fix the cause of the extension dll not being loaded properly. This will prevent the error dialog from being displayed and in turn will not lead to the creation of the Microsoft Mail Connector mailbox in the store. Some common reasons for the extension not being loaded properly include:

• The Add-ins directory on the Microsoft Exchange Server is not shared.
• The Add-ins share does not grant the appropriate rights.
• The dll for the extension trying to be loaded is the incorrect version.
• The Microsoft Exchange Server platform differs from the platform where the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program is being run from and the appropriate platform's dll is not available in the Directory service.

  NOTE: If none of the above reasons apply, a network trace from the computer running the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program to the Microsoft Exchange Server may be needed in order to obtain enough information to resolve the problem.

Case 2

Apply the "Case 2" fix described in the "Status" section of this article. The Admin.exe program was corrected to display only two command buttons, Retry and Cancel. Retry will attempt to reload the files with .dll extension. Cancel will quit the process and return to the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server versions 5.0 and 5.5. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.0. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K