IMAP4 and POP3 clients cannot access mail

Internet Message Access Protocol, Version 4rev1 (IMAP4) and Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) clients cannot access mail. You may also notice the following symptoms:

�	Affected users are located in the same storage group.
�	MAPI mail is not affected.
�	Databases that are in the affected storage group are dismounted. When you try to mount the databases, you may receive the following error message: Information store is busy
�	When you try to restart the information store, the computer may stop responding (hang).

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.
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) 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 tool in Control Panel.

 Date         Time     Version        Size        File name
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 19-Sep-2003  04:10      6.0.6512.0     90,112   Eximap4.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:10      6.0.6512.0     32,768   Expop3.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:11      6.0.6512.0     32,768   Exproto.dll
 19-Sep-2003  03:23      6.0.6512.0     40,960   Febecfg.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:10      6.0.6512.0     32,768   Iisif.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:11      6.0.6512.0    135,168   Iisproto.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:12      6.0.6512.0     61,440   Imap4be.dll
 19-Sep-2003  03:26      6.0.6512.0    319,488   Imap4evt.dll
 19-Sep-2003  03:25      6.0.6512.0    126,976   Imap4fe.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:10      6.0.6512.0    126,976   Imap4svc.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:10      6.0.6512.0     36,864   Pop3be.dll
 19-Sep-2003  03:26      6.0.6512.0    303,104   Pop3evt.dll
 19-Sep-2003  03:25      6.0.6512.0     24,576   Pop3fe.dll
 19-Sep-2003  04:08      6.0.6512.0     73,728   Pop3svc.dll
 19-Sep-2003  03:26      6.0.6512.0    163,840   Protomsg.dll
 11-Jul-2003  23:39        5.3.18.6      6,656   Spmsg.dll
 24-Jun-2003  20:45        5.3.18.5    100,352   Spuninst.exe

To work around this issue, restart the computer. However, this is a temporary solution that may last only several hours.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For additional information about the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For additional information about other solutions to POP3 or IMAP access problems, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: