PC Win: How Users Are Validated Against MMF Files

 Last reviewed: June 1, 1995
Article ID: Q125255
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Mail for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 3.2, and 3.2a

SUMMARY

In versions 3.0, 3.0b, 3.2, and 3.2a of Microsoft Mail for Windows, users logged on to the mail system are validated for access to the postoffice, as well as to their message file (.MMF). Changes recorded in a user's account on a postoffice will not be propagated into the .MMF until the next time the user logs into Mail.

MORE INFORMATION

When you log into the postoffice, the mailbox name and password are used as the credentials to validate you with the postoffice. If the information does not match the values stored on the postoffice, the following error will be returned: 

   The mailbox name or password is incorrect.
Once you have been validated by the postoffice, the Mail client then uses the your Hex ID value, retrieved from the access files in conjunction with the password, to validate you against the MMF.

If both your Hex ID and password match, the your .MMF is opened and you log in normally.

If either one of the two values does not match, the errant value will be updated to match the record the postoffice contains for this value. Two common examples of this are resetting the password and moving an account to a different postoffice with MoveUser.

In the case of a password reset, the password stored in the access files is changed by the Administrator. Then, when you log into the Windows client for the first time after the reset, the password field in the MMF will be different from the password in the access files. The Mail client will then update the MMF's password field to match that of the postoffice.

In the case of MoveUser, your account is created on the new postoffice with a new Hex ID. When you log into the Windows client on the new postoffice the first time, the password will match, but the Hex ID will not. The Mail client will then update the Hex ID within the MMF.

If neither the Hex ID nor the password matches, the Mail client will return the following error: 

   This account is not a valid user of this message file.
This can happen when an Administrator resets a user's password and moves that user with MoveUser without allowing the user to sign on between the reset and move. Since the MMF will have the old Hex ID and password, the user will get the above error message.

Additional reference words: 3.00 3.00b 3.20 3.20a
KBCategory: kbusage
KBSubcategory: MailPCWin

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Last reviewed: June 1, 1995
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