Cannot replicate public folders between two domains

You may not be able to replicate public folders between two domains. For example, the Exchange servers in either domain cannot see folders that are homed in each other's public folder store and cannot replicate public folder content between domains.

This issue may occur if your organization contains two MAPI public folder trees. In Exchange 2000 Server, a public folder tree can be either a MAPI folder tree or a general-purpose folder tree. Although there can be several general-purpose folder trees in an organization, there can be only one MAPI folder tree per organization.

You can use the LDP utility client utility that is included with Windows 2000 to view the value for the public folder tree msExchPFTreeType attribute. The msExchPFTreeType attribute is 1 for a MAPI folder tree and 0 for a general-purpose folder tree.

To resolve this issue:

1. Back up the Exchange 2000 Server computer and domain controllers.
2. Dismount any private or public stores that point to the extraneous top-level hierarchy.
   
   Note The public folder tree is also referred to as a Top Level Hierarchy (TLH). The MAPI folder tree is referred to as a MAPI TLH, and a general purpose folder tree is referred to as an application TLH.
   
   To dismount a database:
   1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
   2. If the Administrative Groups branch exists in the left pane, expand it, expand the appropriate administrative group branch, expand the Servers branch, and then expand the appropriate server branch. If the Administrative Groups branch does not exist, expand the Servers branch in the left pane, and then expand the appropriate server branch.
      
      Note To expand a branch, double-click the branch.
   3. For each database that you want to dismount, expand the associated storage group branch, right-click the database, and then click Dismount Store. Click OK.
3. Change the top-level hierarchy msExchPFTreeType attribute to 0 for the extraneous public folder. This changes the extraneous public folder tree from a MAPI type to a general-purpose public folder tree. To do this, you have to use the ADSI Edit snap-in.
   
   Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Exchange 2000 Server, or both. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.
   
   To change the tmsExchPFTreeType attribute to 0:
   1. Start ADSI Edit. In the CN=Configuration container, locate the following container, where ORGANIZATION is the name of your Exchange 2000 Server organization and administrative_group is the name of your administrative group:
      CN=Services,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=ORGANIZATION,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=administrative_group,CN=Folder Hierarchies,CN=Public Folders
   2. Right-click CN=Public Folders, and then click Properties.
   3. Click the Attributes tab, and then click msExchPFTreeType in the Select a property to view box.
   4. In the Edit Attribute box, type 0, and then click Set.
   5. Click OK, and then quit ASDI Edit.
4. Exchange System Manager should now show only good public stores from the correct public folder top-level hierarchy. Switch all private stores to use the correct public stores.
5. In Exchange System Manager, delete the extraneous stores.
6. Exchange System Manager should now show the empty public folder top-level hierarchy object. Delete the top-level hierarchy.
7. Re-create the public stores.

For more information about public stores, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: