You may receive an "Unable to delete item" error message when you try to delete a message when you use Outlook Web Access in Exchange Server 5.5 (264770)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5
This article was previously published under Q264770

SYMPTOMS

When you use Microsoft Outlook Web Access, you may receive the following error message when you try to delete an e-mail message:
Unable to delete item
Additionally, you may receive the following error message when you try to access a public folder:
Unable to get Public Folders
When you use Microsoft Outlook, you may frequently receive the following error message:
Unable to update free/busy data

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the first Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 server in the site was removed before the system folders were replicated to another server. The first Exchange Server 5.5 server in the site is responsible for storing the system folders for the site. If the first Exchange Server 5.5 server in the site is removed before the system folders are replicated to another server, the Free/busy system folder will not be available. If the Free/busy system folder is not available, you experience the behavior that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, use the Guidgen.exe utility to reset the site folder GUID.

Note You cannot reset the GUID for only a single site folder. If you reset the GUID, all the offline address books and all the free/busy information for a single site will be deleted.

To reset the site folder GUID, and to delete all the offline address books and all the free/busy information in a site, follow these steps:
  1. Obtain a copy of the Guidgen.exe utility.

    The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
    DownloadDownload the Guidgen.exe package now. For more information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

    Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

    If you cannot download the Guidgen.exe utility, contact Microsoft Product Support Services. For more information about how to contact Microsoft Product Support Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

    http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

    You do not have to run the Guidgen.exe utility on the site folder server or even on an Exchange server in your organization. Microsoft Product Support Services can remotely generate and send you a new GUID.
  2. Start the Guidgen.exe utility, click 4. Registry Format, and then click New GUID.
  3. Write down or copy the new GUID number that is displayed in the Result box.
  4. Start the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program in raw mode. To start the Administrator program in raw mode, open a command prompt, locate the Exchsrvr\Bin folder, type admin /r, and then press ENTER.

    Warning If you use the raw mode of the Exchange Server Administrator program (admin /r) incorrectly, serious problems may occur that may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows NT Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, or both. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that result from using raw mode incorrectly can be solved. Use raw mode at your own risk.
  5. Expand the Configuration object of the site that you want to rebuild, and then click Information Store Site Configuration.
  6. On the File menu, click Raw Properties.
  7. In the Object attributes list, click Site-Folder-GUID, and then click Remove.
  8. In the Edit Value box, replace the existing GUID number with the GUID number that you wrote down or copied in step 3.

    If you manually type the new GUID, do not enter dashes (-) or braces ({ }). If you copy and paste the value that is generated by the Guidgen.exe utility in step 3, you may receive the following error message:
    Some of the characters in the clipboard are not valid for this entry.
    Despite this error message, the paste action will be successful. However, the dashes and the braces will be removed from the GUID.
  9. Click Set, click Apply, and then OK.
  10. To force an immediate site folder rebuild operation, stop and then restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service on the site folder server. If the site contains multiple servers, restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service on all servers in the site.

    If you do not force a site folder rebuild operation, the folders will be rebuilt within the next 24 hours.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

After you use the Guidgen.exe utility to rebuild the site folders, the only replicas of the site folders will be on the site folder server. All other replicas in the organization will be destroyed as soon as public folder replication is completed.

Warning If you change the site folder GUID, you must not restore previous backups of any public folder store in the whole Exchange organization at any time. If you restore a previous backup of a public folder store, the following issues may occur:
  • Duplicate site folders may be created.
  • Existing site folders may be destroyed.
  • The site folder server's public database may permanently stop replicating.
  • Other public stores in the site may not be able to accept replicas of site folders.
To resolve these issues, you may have to destroy and rebuild public folder stores on some servers or on all servers in the Exchange organization.

To prevent the problem that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, you can use the DS/IS config tool to transfer the ownership of folders before you remove the first server in the site.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:8/11/2005
Keywords:kbtshoot kbexchOWA kbprb KB264770 kbAudITPRO
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