Read receipt is sent when the "Do not send delivery reports" option is selected in Exchange Server

When you select the Do not send delivery reports option to disable read receipts in your Microsoft Exchange Server organization, a read receipt is still sent when an e-mail message that requests a read receipt is sent to your organization from a different organization.

When you select the Do not send delivery reports option, you expect that that the sending of read receipts is prevented.

Note By default, non-delivery reports (NDR) and delivery reports are enabled.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

Because of file dependencies, this update requires Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 3 (SP3). For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If you are running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, you must have Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) applied.

File information

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 item in Control Panel.Component: SMTPImportant View the "More Information" section for additional required steps to apply this hotfix.

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

After you install this update, you must specify domains that read receipts will be processed for. You can specify domains by running Smtpmd.exe or the Metaedit tool to change a metabase value. The domain that you specify can be set to a fictitious domain (a false domain, fake domain, bogus domain), and you must type a domain value (even a fake one) to force the metabase change to take effect. To change the metabase value, use one of the following methods.

Warning If you edit the metabase incorrectly, you can cause serious problems that may require that you reinstall any product that uses the metabase. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that result if you incorrectly edit the metabase can be solved. Edit the metabase at your own risk.

Note Always back up the metabase before you edit it.

This change will only affect messages that arrive at the server in MIME format and that use "disposition-notification-to:" in the P2 message header. If a message is in TNEF format, the read receipt request is stored in the PR_ReadReceipt_Requested property of the message and is not available for modification by using these methods.

Method 1

To change the metabase value, type the following Smtpmd.exe command at a command prompt (with the quotes), and then press ENTER: Note You do not have to restart any services after you use the metabase update; however, you do have to restart the server after you install the update.

If you want to permit read receipts to only be sent to your local domain, type the following command at a command prompt (with the quotes), and then press ENTER: If you want to permit read receipts to be sent to your local domain and to a second domain, you can separate the domains by using a semi-colon (;). Type the following command at a command prompt (with the quotes), and then press ENTER: To revert to the default behavior where read receipts are always sent to all domains, type the following command at a command prompt (with the quotes), and then press ENTER: Note Use care when you specify an SMTP Virtual Server because this setting may conflict with domain settings.

Method 2

Use the MetaEdit utility to change the metabase value. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Download and install the MetaEdit utility.
   
   For more information about how to use the MetaEdit 2.2 utility to troubleshoot issues and to modify Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase values, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   232068 How to download, install, and remove the IIS MetaEdit 2.2 utility
2. Start the MetaEdit utility. To do this, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click MetaEdit 2.2.
3. Expand LM, expand SmtpSvc, right-click 1, point to New, and then click String.
4. Type 37033 in the Id box, and then click OK.
5. To add or remove domain entries, follow these steps:
   1. In the right-pane, double-click 37033.
   2. In the Data box, type the domain name that read receipts will be processed for.
      
      Note Separate multiple entries with a semi-colon.

For additional information about the MetaEdit 2.2 utility, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

How to turn off non-delivery reports and delivery reports

To turn off non-delivery reports or delivery reports, follow these steps:

1. Start Exchange System Manager.
2. Expand Global Settings, and then click Internet Message Formats.
3. Right-click Default, click Properties, and then click the Advanced tab.
4. Do either of the following:
   • To prevent non-delivery reports from being sent, click to clear the Allow non-delivery reports check box.
   • To prevent delivery reports from being sent, click to clear the Allow delivery reports check box.