How to Enable regtrace

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Regtrace is available on Exchange servers. It is a useful tool for diagnosing and troubleshooting NDRs. Use the following procedure to enable regtrace.

Before You Begin

Before you perform the procedure in this topic, read Troubleshooting Non-Delivery Report Messages.

The following permissions are required to perform this procedure:

  • Member of the local administrators group

Procedure

To enable regtrace

  1. At a command prompt, type regtrace. The Trace Settings window opens.

  2. On the Traces tab, select all the check boxes.

    Traces tab of Trace Settings properties

    9ba019e1-22c1-4160-9db0-13007bdd3c36

  3. On the Output tab, make sure that the File option is selected, and then provide a path to a location that has enough capacity to store a very large file as output.

  4. On the Threading tab, make sure that the Write traces on a Background Thread option is not selected, and then click OK.

  5. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MosTrace\CurrentVersion\
DebugAsyncTrace

  6. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry values:

    Value Name: Modules
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value:   AQ
         CAT
         DS2MB
         dsevntwrap
         EXSINK
         IMAP4SVC
         REAPI
         RESVC
         Routing
         SMTP
         StoreDev
         TranMsg
         DSACCESS

  7. Next, add the MaxTraceFileSize registry key value to set the maximum trace file size to 20 megabytes (MB). On the Edit menu, click Add Value and add the following:

    Value Name:   MaxTraceFileSize
Data Type:   REG_DWORD
Value:   20 (decimal)

  8. Quit Registry Editor.

  9. Reproduce the issue that you are troubleshooting. For example, if mail is being returned as undeliverable, send some e-mail messages to an address that will cause Exchange to return the message undelivered.

  10. When you have reproduced the issue several times, stop tracing. In Regtrace, click the Output tab and select No Tracing.

The trace file is available at the location that is specified on the Output tab of Regtrace. The default location for the file is C:\Trace.atf.

The trace file is a binary-encoded file than contains debug-level information about the transport and routing components that are being traced. For this reason, Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) requires that customers send the trace files for internal analysis. You may have to use file compression software to package the files so that you can deliver them to PSS by means of an FTP server, the Microsoft File Exchange (MSFE), or the Premier Service Desk. For details about any of these delivery methods, consult your PSS representative.