Repair the POP3 connector

Published: March 10, 2011

Applies To: Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard

Problem   Users cannot receive email through the POP3 Connector service.

Solution   Review your system setup by using the following procedures:

  1. Verify that the Windows SBS 2011 Standard POP3 Connector settings are correctly configured.

  2. Verify that the POP3 Connector service is running and is set to Automatic.

  3. View the Windows SBS 2011 Standard event logs.

  4. Check for error details in the POP3 protocol log file.

  5. If the problem still exists, manually remove and reinstall the POP3 connector.

To verify that the Windows SBS 2011 Standard POP3 Connector settings are correctly configured

  1. Open the Windows SBS Console.

  2. Click the Network tab, and then click Connectivity.

  3. Click POP3 Connector, and then in Tasks, click View POP3 Connector properties.

  4. In the Properties dialog box, verify that the settings for each email account are properly defined.

  5. In the Properties dialog box, click Schedule, and then verify that the schedule is set to 0 hours and 5 minutes (or to an interval of your choice).

  6. Click OK.

To verify that the POP3 Connector service is running and is set to Automatic

  1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  2. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

  3. In Services (Local), locate Windows SBS POP3 Connector, and then verify that its status shows Started. If the status shows Stopped or Paused, right-click the status, and then click Restart.

  4. Verify that the Startup Type is set to Automatic. If it is not, double-click Startup Type, change it to Automatic, and then click OK.

To view the Windows SBS 2011 Standard event logs

  1. On the server that is running Windows SBS 2011 Standard, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.

  2. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

  3. Expand Applications and Services Logs, and then expand Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard.

  4. Click Microsoft-Windows-Small Business Server/Operational, and then in Task Category, search for Windows SBS POP3 Connector.

  5. Review the listed errors.

  6. If there are error event logs, complete the steps that are listed in those events.

To check for error details in the POP3 protocol log file

  1. On the server that is running Windows SBS 2011 Standard, open Windows Explorer and browse to %programfiles%\ Windows Small Business Server\ Logs\pop3connector.

  2. Open the pop3service.log file to view the errors and the details about how to fix them.

To manually remove and reinstall the POP3 Connector

  1. Record your site-specific configurations.

Warning

When you remove or reinstall the POP3 Connector, you erase all site-specific configurations, including account mappings and schedule changes.

To record your site-specific configurations, perform the following steps.

1.  Open the **Windows SBS Console**.  
      
2.  Click the **Network** tab, and then click **Connectivity**.  
      
3.  Click **POP3 Connector**, and then in **Tasks**, click **View POP3 Connector properties**.  
      
4.  Record all account and schedule information, and then click **OK**.  
      
  1. Log on as an administrator to the server that is running Windows SBS 2011 Standard.

  2. Click Start; in Start Search, type cmd; right-click cmd.exe, and then click Run as Administrator.

  3. Navigate to %programfiles%\Windows Small Business Server\Data.

  4. Type del pop3records.dat, and then press ENTER.

Note

If the file does not exist, the Command Prompt window returns a message that says, “Could not find <filename>.” Continue with the next step.

  1. Type net stop pop3connector, and then press ENTER.

  2. Type sc delete pop3connector, and then press ENTER.

  3. Change directory to %programfiles%\Windows Small Business Server\Bin.

  4. Type pop3connector –install, and then press ENTER.