XADM: Deleted Users Prevent Access to Public Folders in a Mixed-Mode Environment

After you add an Exchange 2000 Server computer to an existing Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 organization, users may be unable to gain access to public folders.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Component: Information Store

To work around this problem, run a DS/IS consistency check on the Exchange Server 5.5 computer to remove any "zombie" accounts.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 1.

When an Exchange Server 5.5 mailbox is deleted, a "zombie" account is created in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory. Because of this zombie account, the Access Control List on the Exchange 2000 replica of the public folder is not upgraded. Because the Exchange 2000 server cannot determine what permissions to give the zombie entry, the entire list is rejected, and no one can connect.