Event ID 418 is logged when you restart the SMTP service

Incoming and outgoing Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail may not work, but internal mail services may still work correctly. When you restart the SMTP service, you may receive the following event messages:

Event ID: 418
Source: smtpsvc
Description: Virtual Server 1: SMTP server cannot read metabase key MailQueueDir.

Event ID: 418
Source: smtpsvc
Description: Virtual Server 1: SMTP server cannot read metabase key MailPickupDir.

Note The virtual server number in the Event ID may be different if there is more than one SMTP virtual server.

This problem may be caused by one or more reasons. The following are some of the most common causes:

• There is damage in the IIS metabase.
• Internet Information Server (IIS) metabase
  QueueDirectory
  key and
  PickupDirectory
  key are missing from the SMTP virtual server.
• There is a record in the IIS metabase for the non-existent SMTP virtual server.

Warning If you edit the metabase incorrectly, you can cause serious problems that may require you to 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. To resolve these error messages, open Exchange System Manager (ESM), and then check whether the SMTP virtual server that is listed in Event ID 418 is present.

If this SMTP virtual server is present, use the IIS Administration Script Utility to reset the metabase key and key of the SMTP virtual server that is listed in the Event ID 418 message. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
2. Change to the Inetpub\AdminScripts folder.
3. Type cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set smtpsvc/Number/QueueDirectory �C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Vsi Number\Queue�, and then press ENTER.
   
   NoteNumber represents the number of the SMTP virtual server that is listed in the Event ID 418 message. For example, if Event 418 refers to virtual server 1, type cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set smtpsvc/1/QueueDirectory �C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Vsi 1\Queue�, and then press ENTER.
   
   Note The C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot\vsi 1\Queuepath may be different in the system.
4. Type cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set smtpsvc/Number/PickupDirectory �C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Vsi Number\Pickup�, and then press ENTER.
   
   NoteNumber represents the number of the SMTP virtual server that is listed in the Event ID 418 message.
5. Stop and then restart the SMTP service from the Services console.

If this SMTP virtual server is not present, use the IIS Administration Script Utility to remove the metabase record of the non-existent SMTP virtual server:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
2. Change to the Inetpub\AdminScripts folder.
3. Type cscript.exe adsutil.vbs DELETE/smtpsvc/Number, and then press ENTER, where Number is the virtual server record in the metabase that is causing problems. For example, if Event 418 refers to virtual server 2, type cscript.exe adsutil.vbs DELETE/smtpsvc/2, and then press ENTER.
4. Stop and then restart the SMTP service from the Services console.

Notes

• In IIS 6.0, you can use Metabase Explorer to view and to edit the IIS metabase. Metabase Explorer is available in the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit.
• In IIS 5.0, you can use the MetaEdit tool to view and to edit the IIS metabase.

For more information about the IIS MetaEdit 2.2 utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the Metabase Explorer utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the IIS Administration Script utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: