The Information Store service and MTA Stacks service may not start, and an Error event message is logged: "Error 0xc004038a"

The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service and MTA Stacks service on the Exchange server may not start. Additionally, one or more of the following event messages may be logged in the Application log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: (6)
Event ID: 5000
Date: date
Time: time
User: N/A
Computer: servername
Description: Unable to initialize the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. Error 0xc004038a.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: (6)
Event ID: 9538
Date: date
Time: time
User: N/A
Computer: servername
Description: Error 0xc004038a calling StrInitialize in REAPI.DLL.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeMTA
Event Category: (8)
Event ID: 137
Date: date
Time: time
User: N/A
Computer: servername
Description: A fatal directory error occurred. Change to the maximum logging level for more details.

Additionally, you experience the following symptoms:

• You receive the following error message when you try to start the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service:
  Windows could not start the Microsoft Exchange Information Store on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 0.
• You receive the following error message when you try to start the Microsoft Exchange MTA stacks service:
  The Microsoft Exchange MTA Stacks service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they have no work to do, for example, the Performance Logs and Alerts service.

The issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:

• The server is no longer a member of a routing group.
• The routing group that this server is a member of was accidentally deleted by ADSIEdit or by the LDP tool.

To resolve this issue, use one of following resolutions as appropriate.

Resolution 1: Add the server back to the routing group

To verify that the server is no longer a member of a routing group, follow these steps:

1. Start Exchange System Manager.
2. Expand Organization, expand Administrative Groups, expand AdministrativeGroupName, and then expand Routing Groups.
   
   Note In this step, AdministrativeGroupName is the name of the administrative group.
3. Browse through all the available routing groups, and then verify that this server is not listed anywhere.
   
   Note If no routing groups are visible, go to Resolution 2.

After you verify that this server is not a member of a routing group, add the server back to an existing routing group. To do this, follow these steps.

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. Click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.
   
   Note The ADSI Edit tool is included in Microsoft Windows 2000 Support Tools and in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Support Tools. To install these support tools, follow these steps:
   • For Windows 2000 Server-based computers, double-click Setup.exe in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 CD, and then follow the steps in Windows Support Tools Setup Wizard to complete the installation of Windows 2000 Support Tools.
   • For Windows Server 2003-based computers, right-click Suptools.msi in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows Server 2003 CD, click Install, and then follow the steps in Windows Support Tools Setup Wizard to complete the installation of Windows Server 2003 Support Tools.
2. Expand Configuration [ servername.domain_name.com ], expand CN=Configuration, DC= domain_name ,DC= com, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN= OrganizationName, expand CN=Administrative Groups, expand CN= AdministrativeGroupName, and then click CN=Routing Groups.
   
   Note In this step, servername is the name of the server, domain_name.com is the name of the domain, OrganizationName is the name of the Exchange Server organization, and AdministrativeGroupName is the name of the administrative group.
3. Right-click the routing group of which you want this server to be a member, and then click Properties.
4. Click the distinguishedName attribute, and then click Edit
5. Copy the value of the distinguishedName attribute into Notepad.
6. Click Cancel two times to close the properties.
7. In the ADSIEdit tool, expand Configuration [ servername.domain_name.com ], expand CN=Configuration,DC= domain_name ,DC= com , expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN= OrganizationName, expand CN=Administrative Groups, expand CN= AdministrativeGroupName, and then expand CN=Servers.
8. Right-click servername, and then click Properties.
9. Click the msExchHomeRoutingGroup attribute, and then click Edit.
10. Paste the value that you copied to Notepad in step 5, and then click OK two times to save the new value.
11. In Exchange System Manager, locate the routing group to which you added this server.
12. Update Exchange System Manager to view this server.
    
    Note If the Exchange server does not appear immediately, wait for Active Directory replication to occur.
13. If no other Exchange servers in this routing group have the Server Type set to Master, right-click this Exchange server, and then click Set as Master.
14. Start the Information Store service and the MTA Stacks service.

Resolution 2: Restore the routing group

If you accidentally remove a routing group, restore the routing group by using the most recent backup of the System State data. If you do not have a recent backup of the System State data, and if you have more than one domain controller, perform an authoritative restore operation of the routing group that you removed.

For more information about how to restore a routing group, see the Recovery.doc document. To obtain this document, visit the following Microsoft Web site: If you cannot restore this routing group from a recent backup or by doing an authoritative restore operation from another domain controller, manually re-create the routing group that you removed. To do this, follow these steps:

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. Start Exchange System Manager, and then create a new routing group that has the same name as the routing group that you removed. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Start Exchange System Manager.
   2. Expand Administrative Groups, expand AdministrativeGroupName, and then expand Routing Groups.
      
      In this step, AdministrativeGroupName is the name of your administrative group.
   3. Right-click Routing Groups, point to New, and then click Routing Group.
   4. In the Name box, type the routing group name, and then click OK.
      
      Use the same name that was used for the routing group that you accidentally removed.
   5. Quit Exchange System Manager.
2. Start ADSI Edit. To do this, click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
   
   Note The ADSI Edit tool is included in Microsoft Windows 2000 Support Tools and in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Support Tools. To install these support tools:
   • For Windows 2000 Server-based computers, double-click Setup.exe in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 CD, and then follow the steps in Windows Support Tools Setup Wizard to complete the installation of Windows 2000 Support Tools.
   • For Windows Server 2003-based computers, right-click Suptools.msi in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows Server 2003 CD, click Install, and then follow the steps in Windows Support Tools Setup Wizard to complete the installation of Windows Server 2003 Support Tools.
3. Expand Configuration [servername.domain_name.com], expand CN=Configuration, DC=domain_name,DC=com, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN=OrganizationName, expand CN=Administrative Groups, expand CN=AdministrativeGroupName, and then click CN=Routing Groups.
   
   In this step, servername is the name of your server; domain_name.com is the name of your domain; OrganizationName is the name of your Exchange Server organization; and AdministrativeGroupName is the name of your administrative group.
4. In the right pane, right-click the new routing group that you created, and then click Properties.
5. Click to select the Show mandatory attributes check box and the Show optional attributes check box if they are not already selected.
6. In the Attributes list, click msExchRoutingGroupMembersBL, and then click Edit.
   
   The Values list is blank.
7. Click Cancel.
8. In the Attributes list, double-click distinguishedName.
9. Right-click the distinguished name in the Value box, and then click Copy.
10. Start a text editor such as Notepad, and then click Paste on the Edit menu to paste the distinguished name.
11. In the String Attribute Editor dialog box, click Cancel, and then click Cancel to close the CN=RoutingGroupName dialog box.
    
    In this step, RoutingGroupName is the name of your routing group.
12. In ADSI Edit, under CN=AdministrativeGroupName, click CN=Servers.
13. In the right pane, right-click CN=ServerName, and then click Properties.
    
    In this step, ServerName is one of the Exchange computers in this routing group.
14. In the Attributes list, click msExchHomeRoutingGroup, and then click Edit.
15. In the Value box, paste the distinguished name that you copied in steps 9 and 10, and then click OK.
16. Click Apply, and then click OK.
17. Repeat steps 13 through 15 for each server that was a member of the routing group that was removed by accident.
18. Under CN=AdministrativeGroupName, click CN=Routing Groups.
19. In the right pane, right-click the new routing group that you created, and then click Properties.
20. In the Attributes list, click msExchRoutingGroupMembersBL, and then click Edit.
    
    The Values list is no longer blank.
21. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel.
22. Quit ADSI Edit.
23. Set the routing group master by using Exchange System Manager. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Start Exchange System Manager.
    2. Expand Administrative Groups, expand AdministrativeGroupName, and then expand Routing Groups.
    3. Expand the new routing group that you created, and then click Members.
    4. In the right pane, right-click the Exchange computer that you want to configure as the routing group master, and then click Set as Master.
    5. Quit Exchange System Manager.
24. Wait for the changes to propagate throughout the domain.
25. Start the Microsoft Exchange services that are stopped.