Troubleshooting E-mail services

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Troubleshooting

What problem are you having?

  • Users are unable to connect to the POP3 server to retrieve or send e-mail

  • I am using local Windows accounts authentication. The POP3 service will not start after I install Active Directory on the member server.

  • Users are unable to access their mailboxes after the mail store directory is restored from a backup or moved to a new location, or event ID 1022 appears in the event log.

  • I am using local Windows accounts authentication and a remote mail store. A security identifier (SID) appears instead of an account name as the owner of the files in the remote mail store.

  • Deleting a user account from the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in does not delete the user’s corresponding POP3 mailbox.

  • When using Secure Password Authentication and Active Directory integrated authentication, users are unable to connect.

  • I am unable to perform administrative tasks when using Active Directory integrated authentication, or the following error message appears:"The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted."

Users are unable to connect to the POP3 server to retrieve or send e-mail

Cause:   The user's e-mail client has not been configured correctly, or the user has incorrect logon credentials.

Solution:   Review the procedures to configure e-mail clients.

I am using local Windows accounts authentication. The POP3 service will not start after I install Active Directory on the member server.

Cause: When Active Directory is installed on a computer, the local Security Accounts Manager (SAM) is disabled. Local Windows accounts authentication depends upon SAM, however. Without SAM, the POP3 service will not start if it is configured to use local Windows accounts authentication.

Solution: After you install Active Directory on the server, configure the POP3 service to use Active Directory integrated authentication as described in the following table:

Step

Reference

Delete all existing e-mail domains in the POP3 service.

For more information on deleting e-mail domains, see Delete a domain.

Change the authentication method to Active Directory integrated.

For more information on changing the authentication method, see Set the authentication method.

Recreate the domains and associated mailboxes.

See also:  Active Directory integrated authentication.

Users are unable to access their mailboxes after the mail store directory is restored from a backup or moved to a new location, or event ID 1022 appears in the event log.

Cause:  The discretionary access control list (DACL) that is set on the mail store directory and all subdirectories has been lost.

Solution:  Reset the DACL on the mail store directory. The DACL will then be propagated to all subdirectories.

  1. Open Command Prompt.

  2. Type:

    winpop set mailrootpath_to_mail_store

    Note

    • The set mailroot command might take a while to complete if the mail store is large.

See also:  Mail store.

I am using local Windows accounts authentication and a remote mail store. A security identifier (SID) appears instead of an account name as the owner of the files in the remote mail store.

Cause:  The SID displayed corresponds to a user account on the computer on which the POP3 service is running. Because that account does not exist on the remote computer, there is no user account to be referenced, and the SID appears instead.

Solution:  This is a known issue.

Deleting a user account from the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in does not delete the user’s corresponding POP3 mailbox.

Cause:  The Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in is designed to function this way.

Solution:  To delete both the user account and the POP3 mailbox, use the POP3 service snap-in. For more information, see Delete a mailbox.

Or, if you delete the user account from the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, you can delete the POP3 mailbox manually.

To delete a mailbox manually, go to the directory that is configured to be the mail store. Delete the directory that corresponds to the POP3 mailbox.

For more information on how to determine the directory that corresponds to the POP3 mailbox, see Mail store.

When using Secure Password Authentication and Active Directory integrated authentication, users are unable to connect.

Cause:  The user's logon credentials are incorrect.

Solution:  Verify that the user is using the correct logon name and password. If a naming conflict occurred when the user's mailbox was created, the user must use the pre-Windows 2000 logon name as his or her user name when connecting to the server running the POP3 service. For more information about naming conflicts, see Active Directory integrated authentication.

  • To verify the user's logon name, go to the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in located in the Administrative Tools menu. Go to the Users folder, right-click the user account and then click Properties. Click the Account tab. The user name that must be used will appear in User logon name (pre-Windows 2000).

  • If the user's password is incorrect, and the user does not remember the correct password, reset the password and provide the user with a new password. For more information, see Change a password.

I am unable to perform administrative tasks when using Active Directory integrated authentication, or the following error message appears:"The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted."

Cause:  You are not logged on to the Active Directory domain. If you are using Active Directory integrated authentication, you must log on to the Active Directory domain, not the local computer, to administer the POP3 service.

Solution:  Log on to the Active Directory domain using your administrator credentials.