XFOR: Internet Messages Received in Raw Form

ID: Q184772

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 5.0, 5.5

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

Internet messages with charsets unknown to the server are presented to the recipient in raw form. When the server encounters unrecognized charsets (for example, x-1234), it leaves the message intact instead of applying a default charset such as US-ASCII.

CAUSE

Exchange Server cannot default to any specific charset, because such an action may result in the mismapping of characters.

WORKAROUND

If you receive a specific charset frequently and know a close equivalent, such as US-ASCII or ISO-8859-1, you can modify the MIME database to alias the unknown charset to the known charset.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

The registry value that needs to be added is "AliasForCharset" as below:


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\<unknown charset>: AliasForCharset
   "<known-charset>"

NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

To add the above registry value, do the following:

Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).

Go to the following key in the registry:
```
      HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Charset\<unknown> 
```
where <unknown> is the name of the unknown character set.

On the Edit menu, click Add Value and use the following entry:
```
      Value Name: AliasForCharset
      Data Type:  REG_SZ
      Value:      <known> 
```
where <known> is the name of the known character set.

Quit Registry Editor.

Additional query words:

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