Messages that are sent in an Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange 2000 Server organization are not delivered (822939)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
This article is a consolidation of the following previously available articles: 319885 and 290290Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry


SYMPTOMS

You may experience one or more of the following symptoms in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server.

SYMPTOM 1

When users try to send messages to addresses in your Microsoft Exchange organization by using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), they may experience one of the following behaviors:
  • The messages leave the Outbox of the e-mail client, but they are not delivered to the destination address.
  • The messages remain in the Outbox of the e-mail client.
Note This problem may also occur when you try to send a message to your own e-mail address.

SYMPTOM 2

If you view the tracking history of the sent message, you may notice information resembles the following information: Tracked Message History on server ServerName

- Report generated internally
- SMTP Store Driver: Message Submitted from Store
- SMTP Store Driver: Submitted Message to MTA
- Unroutable report discarded

SYMPTOM 3

If there are other servers in the routing group, those servers can send mail to each other. However, those servers cannot send mail to or from the server that is experiencing the problem. If a user tries send mail to a mailbox on the server that is experiencing the problem, the user receives a non-delivery report (NDR) that resembles the following NDR:
-----Original Message----- 
From: System Administrator 
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 6:04 PM 
To: Ops, Global 
Subject: Undeliverable: Test Message 

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients. 

Subject: Test Message 
Sent: 2/20/2001 6:04 PM 

The following recipient(s) could not be reached: 

Ops, Global on 2/20/2001 6:04 PM 

The e-mail system was unable to deliver the message, but did not report a specific reason. Check the address and try again. If it still fails, contact your system administrator. 
server.domain.com #5.0.0
If there is an SMTP connector on the Exchange 2000 server that is experiencing the problem, the following error message may be logged in the System log:Event: 4000
Source: smtpsvc
Description: Message delivery to the remote domain ' domain.com' failed. The error message is unable to bind to the destination server in dns. Your mail may also seem to disappear. If you check the Exchsrvr\Mailroot\Vsi 1\Badmail folder, you should find the missing mail messages. In this case, the reason that mail cannot be delivered is often C0040557 (0xC0040557).

SYMPTOM 4

The following Exchange services may not start:
  • Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine
  • Microsoft Exchange POP3
  • Microsoft Exchange IMAP4
  • Microsoft Exchange Event
When you try to manually start the Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine service, you may receive the following error message:
Could not start the Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine service on Local Computer. Error 1083: The executable program that this service is configured to run in does not implement this service.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the association of Microsoft Exchange to the SMTP service is damaged or if the IIS (or only SMTP component of IIS) for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 has been reinstalled, but the Exchange Server SMTP service extensions have not been restored.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Step 1: Troubleshoot

Determine whether all the Exchange command verbs for the SMTP service are present:
  1. Establish a telnet session with the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 computer on port 25: click Start, click Run, type telnet localhost 25 in the Open box, and then click OK.
  2. Type ehlo, and then press ENTER.

    The following list appears: 250-ServerName.example.com Hello [IP address]
    250-TURN
    250-ATRN
    250-SIZE
    250-ETRN
    250-PIPELINING
    250-DSN
    250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
    250-8bitmime
    250-BINARYMIME
    250-CHUNKING
    250-VRFY
    250-X-EXPS GSSAPI NTLM LOGIN
    250-X-EXPS=LOGIN
    250-AUTH GSSAPI NTLM LOGIN
    250-AUTH=LOGIN
    250-X-LINK2STATE
    250-XEXCH50
    250 OK However, if the following command verbs for the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 SMTP service are not present, the association of the Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 computer to the SMTP service is damaged: 250-X-EXPS GSSAPI NTLM LOGIN
    250-X-EXPS=LOGIN
    250-AUTH GSSAPI NTLM LOGIN
    250-AUTH=LOGIN
    250-X-LINK2STATE
    250-XEXCH50
  3. Type quit, and then press ENTER to quit the telnet session.

Step 2: Reinstall Exchange Server

If some of the Exchange association SMTP command verbs are missing, you must reinstall Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000.

Note When you reinstall Exchange, it does not overwrite the databases. It only backfills any missing files and metabase entries. This does not affect the settings or mailboxes on the server that is running Exchange.

To reinstall Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type cmd.
  3. Locate the Setup\i386 folder on the Exchange installation CD, and then type setup.exe /reinstall.
    Note You may also launch the Exchange Setup program from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, and then click Reinstall in the Action list on the Component Selection page.
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to reinstall Exchange.
  5. Update Exchange with the same service pack and hotfixes as that of the original Exchange installation.
Note If SMTP was the only IIS component that was reinstalled on an Exchange 2000 server, you can use the SMTP Reinstall Tool (Smtpreinstall.exe) to restore the missing Exchange 2000 SMTP verbs and the Exchange 2000 versions of the files for Exchange 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later versions of Exchange 2000. Smtpreinstall.exe is in the \Server\Support\Utils\i386 folder on the Exchange 2000 SP2 or later versions CD.

To run Smtpreinstall.exe, follow these steps:
  1. Copy Smtpreinstall.exe to the \Exchsrvr\Bin folder.
  2. Run Smtpreinstall.exe.
  3. Restart the computer when you receive the prompt.

MORE INFORMATION

We strongly recommend that you perform regular metabase backups. You can do this by choosing the System State backup option with your backup program. You can also do this by right-clicking the server in Internet Service Manager. If you have a good metabase backup, you can restore that backup instead of using the steps in the "Resolution" section.

The Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 SMTP service is a key underlying component of Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003. If you uninstall IIS or SMTP, the bindings and registrations that Exchange requires are removed. Therefore, you should not remove and reinstall IIS on an Exchange server, except in extreme cases. IIS stores its configuration in an enhanced registry-like binary hive that is called the metabase. If you are running IIS, we strongly recommended that you back up the metabase.

If your SMTP service is removed unexpectedly, check to make sure that the Exchange Server 5.5 MSExchangeIMC key does not exist on the server that is running Exchange 2000 or a later version of Exchange.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To check for the MSExchangeIMC key, follow these steps:
  1. Start Registry Editor.
  2. Locate the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current Control Set\Services\MSExchangeIMC

  3. If the MSExchangeIMC key exists, delete it to prevent SMTP from being removed unexpectedly.
  4. Quit Registry Editor.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

294804 SMTP is removed when you upgrade to Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2

REFERENCES

For more information about How to remove and reinstall IIS and Exchange, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

320202 How to remove and reinstall IIS and Exchange

For more information about troubleshooting transport issues in Exchange Server 2003, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

821910 How to troubleshoot for Exchange Server 2003 transport issues

821905 Message tracking event IDs in Exchange Server 2003

To obtain Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 2, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2000/sp2/default.asp

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/12/2006
Keywords:KB822939
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