XFOR: Behavior of IMC or Internet Mail Service with Invalid Registry Information

ID: Q147935

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0, 5.0, 5.5

SUMMARY

This article discusses how the Internet Mail Connector (IMC), used in Exchange Server version 4.0, and the Internet Mail Service, used in Exchange Server version 5.0 and later, behave when several important Windows NT registry keys are either incorrect or absent.

MORE INFORMATION

You can find these registry keys; start the Regedt32.exe utility on the Exchange Server computer and locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIMC \Parameters

If the RootDir value exists but the directory is read only, the IMC or Internet Mail Service (as applicable) logs a 4052 error message, which indicates that you need to check directory permissions. If only Add and Read permissions are granted on the directory, the IMC or Internet Mail Service logs a 4065 error message, which indicates that it is unable to open or create the queue file because of a system error and access is denied. If the value points to a nonexistent directory, the IMC or Internet Mail Service creates a directory under the %exchange_root% directory. If the value is absent, the IMC or Internet Mail Service logs a 4092 error message similar to the following:

Unable to start the Internet Mail Connector because the spool directory %1 is not valid. The path specified in the RootDir Windows NT registry value under the Parameters key must begin with a drive letter followed by a colon.

If the CommonName or HomeDSA values do not exist, the IMC or Internet Mail Service logs a 4018 error message that indicates a Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) initialization problem. If either of these values is corrupt, the IMC or Internet Mail Service logs a 4086 error message that indicates that the configuration could not be loaded. The IMC or Internet Mail Service also logs the 4086 error message if the version of Exchange Server is earlier than version 4.0 Service Pack 2 or version 4.0a running on Windows NT version 4.0. This is not a supported configuration. Exchange Server version 4.0 Service Pack 2 or later must be used on Windows NT 4.0.

If the IMC or Internet Mail Service stops responding with Event ID 4086 and nothing else, check the SiteDN key as well. Note that the organization and site names are case sensitive.

If the Organization or OrgUnit values are absent, the IMC or Internet Mail Service starts without any error messages. If either of them is corrupt, the IMC or Internet Mail Service starts and leaves the value unchanged.

Additional query words: 4.00

Keywords : XFOR exc4 exc5 exc55
Version : winnt:4.0,5.0,5.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo