"Please enter a three-letter site code" error message when you use the Systems Management Server 2003 Administrator Console to modify the address of a child site (873395)

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Administrator Console on an SMS parent site server to modify the Standard Sender Address properties for a child site, you may receive the following error message in the SMS Administrator Console:

Windows Title: Standard Sender Address
Message Text: Please enter a three-letter site code.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

The child site for the address that you want to modify was installed by a custom unattended installation script.
The SiteName property that is contained in the custom unattended installation script is longer than 56 characters.

Note When you manually run the Setup.exe program to install a new SMS 2003 site, the Systems Management Server Setup Wizard does not let you use a site name that is longer than 56 characters.

RESOLUTION

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

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

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question. The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version            Size    File name
   -----------------------------------------------------------
   25-Dec-2003  12:25  2.50.2726.141     581,632  Mmcbasui.dll

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

Hotfix installation instructions

To install this hotfix, follow these steps:

Create a new folder in a location that your SMS site servers can use. Copy the SMS2003-RTM-KB873395-X86-ENU.exe update file to this new folder.
On each computer that has the SMS Administrator Console installed, log on to your site server by using an account that has administrative credentials on all the primary SMS site servers in your environment.
Quit the SMS Administrator Console if it is running.
Run the SMS2003-RTM-KB873395-X86-ENU.exe file, and then follow the instructions in the wizard.