How to change the Exchange 2003 SMTP Mailroot folder location

This article describes how to change the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Mailroot folder location. When messages arrive at the Exchange 2003 computer through the SMTP service, the data is written to the hard disk as an .eml file. By default, these files are stored in the drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot folder on the same partition that Exchange 2003 is installed on. In some scenarios, such as when you configure a bridgehead server, you can improve the performance of the Exchange 2003 computer if you move the Mailroot folder to a different hard disk or partition.

To move the Mailroot folder, use one of the following methods, as appropriate to your situation:

Note Method 1 describes how you can move the Badmail folder and the Queue folder by using Exchange System Manager. If you also want to move the Pickup folder, use Method 2.

Method 1: Use Exchange System Manager

1. Start Exchange System Manager.
2. Make sure that you can view administrative groups in Exchange System Manager. To do this, right-click your server, click Properties, and then click to select the Display administrative groups check box if it is not checked.
3. Expand Administrative Groups, expand your administrative group, expand Servers, expand your server, expand Protocols, and then expand SMTP.
4. Right-click your SMTP virtual server, and then click Stop.
5. Right-click your SMTP virtual server, and then click Properties.
6. Click Messages, and then do the following:
   • In the Badmail directory box, type the path of the new location of the Badmail folder.
   • In the Queue directory box, type the path of the new location of the Queue folder.
7. Right-click your SMTP virtual server, and then click Start.

Method 2: Use ADSI Edit

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, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. 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.

1. Install the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit on your Exchange 2003 computer or on a client computer.
   
   Note There is no requirement to install the Windows 2000 Resource Kit on the Exchange 2003 computer.
2. Enable diagnostics logging of Directory Service to Metabase replication. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Start Exchange System Manager.
   2. Make sure that you can view administrative groups in Exchange System Manager. To do this, right-click your organization, click Properties, and then click to select the Display administrative groups check box if it is not selected.
   3. Expand Administrative Groups, expand Servers, right-click the Exchange server, and then click Properties.
   4. Click the Diagnostics Logging tab.
   5. Click to select the MSExchangeMU item under the Services list.
   6. Under Logging Level, click Maximum.
      
      By default, the logging level is None.
   7. Click OK.
3. Stop all Exchange services and Internet Information Service (IIS) services on the Exchange 2003 computer that you want to change.
4. Create a backup copy of the Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot folder.
   
   Important Make sure that you perform this step before you continue.
5. Move the Vsi 1 folder, the subfolders of the Vsi 1 folder, and the contents of the Vsi 1 folder from drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot to the new location.
   
   Note Do not move the Mailroot folder itself.
6. Register the Adsiedit.dll file by using the regsvr32 command. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, and then click Run.
   2. In the Open box, type the following line, and then click OK:
      regsvr32 "drive:\program files\support tools\adsiedit.dll"
7. Click Start, click Run, type MMC, and then click OK to open a new Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
8. Click Add/Remove Snap-in, and then click Add to add the ADSI Edit snap-in.
9. In the console tree, click ADSI Edit, and then click Connect To on the Action menu.
10. Click Naming Context, click Configuration Container in the Naming Context list, and then click OK.
11. Locate the following Microsoft Active Directory directory service container in the configuration container: CN=Configuration\ CN=Services \CN=Microsoft Exchange \CN=YourOrganizationName\ CN=Administrative Groups\CN=YourAdminGroupName\ CN=Servers \CN=YourServerName \CN=Protocols\CN=SMTP \CN=1
12. Right-click CN=1, and then click Properties.
13. In the Select which properties to view list, click Both.
14. Edit the attributes for the following properties, and then click Set after you edit each one:
    • msExchSmtpBadMailDirectory
    • msExchSmtpPickupDirectory
    • msExchSmtpQueueDirectory
15. Wait for Active Directory replication to replicate these changes to the rest of the forest.
    
    Or, at least wait for Active Directory replication to replicate these changes to the domain controllers and to the global catalog servers that your Exchange 2003 computer references.
16. Start only the Exchange System Attendant service. This procedure copies the paths that you have changed from Active Directory to the metabase
    
    If you have enabled Directory Service to Metabase diagnostics logging as described in step 2, an event that indicates that the paths in the metabase have updated successfully is recorded three times in the event log. (Event ID: 1005, Source: MSExchangeMU, Category: General). This event is recorded shortly after initialization.
17. Restart the Exchange 2003 computer.

For more information, view the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Internals: Quick Tuning Guide white paper at the following Microsoft Web site: