XFOR: Causes for Event ID 4018 when starting the IMC

ID: Q163243

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0, 5.0, 5.5

SYMPTOMS

When you start the Internet Mail Connector (IMC), you may receive the following error message:

Error 2140: An internal Windows NT error occurred.

The following event is logged in the application event log:


   Event ID: 4018
   Type: Error
   Source: MSExchangeIMC
   Category: Initialization/Termination
   Description:

   Unable to start the Internet Mail Connector service because
   MAPI could not be initialized.

CAUSE

If you receive this error, check the following:

Verify that Mapisvc.inf is located in the proper folder. It should be in the %System Root%\System32 folder.

Verify that the Exchange Service Account has at least change rights on the Mapisvc.inf file in the <systemroot>\System32 folder.

Verify that you have a private information store on that server. For more information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q157042 Event ID 4018 if IMC Started Without Private IS

Verify that the CommonName and HomeDSA registry entries are present and valid. They will be listed under:
```
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIMC
   \Parameters 
```

For more information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q147935 XFOR: Behavior of IMC With Invalid Registry Information

Additional query words: mapi32

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