How to reset the default virtual directories that are required to provide Outlook Web Access, Exchange ActiveSync, and Outlook Mobile Access services in Exchange Server 2003

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Summary

This article describes how to re-create the Microsoft Exchange Server-related virtual directories in Internet Information Services (IIS). Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 supports Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, Exchange ActiveSync, and Outlook Mobile Access. These services are enabled through six virtual directories that are created by default in IIS when you install Exchange Server 2003. If the virtual directories become corrupted, or if any one of the related services fails, you may want to remove these virtual directories. However, these virtual directories are not automatically re-created.

In this scenario, you must use one of the following methods to remove and then re-create the virtual directories in IIS:

Method 1: Use Metabase Explorer from the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools
Method 2: Use Adsutil.vbs
Method 3: Edit the Metabase.xml file

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Introduction

Sometimes you must re-create the IIS virtual directories when you have problems with Outlook Web Access or other mobility services on your Exchange Server 2003 computer. By default, Exchange Server 2003 creates the following IIS virtual directories: Exadmin, Exchange, ExchWeb, Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync, OMA, and Public.

However, if you delete the IIS virtual directories that are used by Outlook Web Access and by other mobility services, the virtual directories are not automatically re-created when you restart the Exchange System Attendant service. This article describes three methods that you can use to delete and to re-create the virtual directories that are used by Outlook Web Access.

Note In Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, after you delete the virtual directories for Outlook Web Access, the virtual directories are re-created when you restart the Exchange System Attendant service.

For more information about the virtual directories for Outlook Web Access in Exchange Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

821898 Virtual Internet Information Services (IIS) directories that are used by Outlook Web Access in Exchange Server 2003

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More information

To delete and to re-create the virtual directories for Outlook Web Access, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use Metabase Explorer from the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools

To use Metabase Explorer from the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools, follow these steps:

Install the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools. To obtain the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools, go to the following Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=56FC92EE-A71A-4C73-B628-ADE629C89499&displaylang=en
Note If you do not want to install all the IIS tools on your computer, you can install only the Metabase Explorer 1.6 component. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Double-click iis60rkt.exe, and then follow the instructions on your screen until you reach the Setup Type page of the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools Setup Wizard.
2. On the Setup Type page, click Custom, and then click Next.
3. Clear all the IIS Resource Kit Tools and components check boxes except the�Metabase Explorer 1.6 check box.
4. Click Next, and then click Finish.
Back up your IIS metabase. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Start IIS Manager.
2. Right-click Default Web Site, point to All Tasks, and then click Save Configuration to a File.
3. In the Save Configuration to a File dialog box, type a configuration name in the File name input box, and then click OK.
Delete the virtual directories for Outlook Web Access. To do this, expand the Default Web Site in the navigation pane of IIS Manager, right-click Exadmin, and then click Delete. Click Yes when you are prompted with the question of whether you want to delete this item.

Repeat this step for the following virtual directories:
- Exchange
- ExchWeb
- Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync
- OMA
- Public
Close IIS Manager.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to IIS Resources, point to Metabase Explorer, and then click Metabase Explorer.
Expand LM, right-click DS2MB, and then click Delete. Click Yes when you are prompted with the question of whether you want to delete this key and all subkeys.
Close IIS Metabase Explorer.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
To restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
2. Right-click Microsoft Exchange System Attendant, and then click Restart.
3. When you are prompted to restart the dependent Exchange Server services, click Yes.
  
  NoteWhen you restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is also restarted. In this scenario, your Exchange Server users lose connectivity to their Exchange Server mailboxes.
The virtual directories are re-created. To verify that the virtual directories are re-created, start IIS Manager, and then view the Default Web site folder.

Important If the virtual directories are not re-created after 15 minutes, restart your computer.
Reset the access permissions to Anonymous. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Start IIS Manager, right-click ExchWeb, click Properties, and then click the Directory Security tab.
2. Under Authentication and access control, click Edit, and then verify that the Enable anonymous access�check box is selected.
3. elect the�Integrated Windows authentication check box, click OK, and then click Apply.
4. If the Inheritance Overrides dialog box appears, click Select All, and then click OK.
5. Under Authentication and access control, click Edit, and then�clear the�Integrated Windows authentication check box.
6. Click OK�two times, and then close IIS Manager.

Use a web browser to verify that you can connect to your Outlook Web Access server. If you are also running other mobility services, verify that you can connect to those services by using an appropriate client.

Method 2: Use Adsutil.vbs

To use Adsutil.vbs, follow these steps:

Back up your IIS Metabase. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Start IIS Manager.
2. Right-click Default Web Site, point to All Tasks, and then click Save Configuration to a File.
Delete the virtual directories for Outlook Web Access. To do this, right-click Exadmin in the navigation pane of IIS Manager, and then click Delete. Click Yes when you are prompted with the question of whether you want to delete this item.

Repeat this step for the following virtual directories:
- Exchange
- ExchWeb
- Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync
- OMA
- Public
Close IIS Manager.
Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press Enter.
Change to the following folder. In this example, Drive is the hard disk drive where Windows is installed:
Drive:\inetpub\adminscripts
Type adsutil, and then press Enter.

Important By default, CScript is not the default scripting host for Windows Server 2003. To run the adsutil command, CScript must be configured as the default scripting host. To do this, click Yes if you are prompted to register CScript as you default host for VBscript, and then click OK.

Note If you receive a list of adsutil command options, CScript is already configured as the default scripting host for VBscript.
Type adsutil delete ds2mb, and then press Enter.�

Note To set the default scripting host to WScript, type WScript //H:WScript�at the command prompt, press Enter, and then click�OK.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
To restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
2. Right-click Microsoft Exchange System Attendant, and then click Restart.
3. When you are prompted to restart the dependent Exchange Server services, click Yes.
  
  NoteWhen you restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is also restarted. In this scenario, your Exchange Server users lose connectivity to their Exchange Server mailboxes.
  
  The virtual directories are re-created. To verify that the virtual directories are re-created, start IIS Manager, and then view the Default Web site folder.
  
  Important If the virtual directories are not re-created after 15 minutes, restart the computer.
Reset the access permissions to Anonymous. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Start IIS Manager, right-click ExchWeb, click Properties, and then click the Directory Security tab.
2. Under Authentication and access control click Edit, and then verify that the Enable anonymous access check box is turned on.
3. Select the�Integrated Windows authentication check box, click OK, and then click Apply.
4. If an Inheritance Overrides dialog box appears, click Select All, and then click OK.
5. Under Authentication and access control, click Edit, and then�clear the�Integrated Windows authentication check box.
6. Click OK two times, and then close IIS Manager.

Method 3: Edit the Metabase.xml file

To resolve this issue, you must change the Metabase.xml file. The changed Metabase.xml file causes the Exchange Server-related virtual directories to be re-created when the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service is restarted. To do this, follow these steps:

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.

Configure IIS to enable real-time editing of the metabase. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Right-click ServerName(local computer), and then click Properties.
  
  Note Replace ServerName with the name of the computer that is running IIS.
3. �Select the�Enable Direct Metabase Edit check box, and then click OK.
Change the Metabase.xml file. The metabase is a database that is located in memory on the computer that is running IIS. When the computer shuts down, all the metabase settings are written to a file that is named Metabase.bin. You can change the Metabase.xml file to cause the Exchange Server-related virtual directories to be re-created in IIS when the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service restarts. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Open the Metabase.xml by using a text editor such as Notepad. By default, the Metabase.xml file is located in the following folder:
  %windir%\System32\Inetsrv
2. On the Edit menu, click Find.
3. In the Find what box, type 61472, and then click Find Next to locate the following area in this file:
  <IIsConfigObject Location="/LM/DS2MB/HighWaterMarks/{79F81D41-A652-4375-85F0-41A16037CC85}">
  <Custom
  Name="UnknownName_61472"
  ID="61472"
  Value="207778"
  Type="STRING"
  UserType="IIS_MD_UT_SERVER"
  Attributes="NO_ATTRIBUTES"
  />
4. In this area of the Metabase.xml file, replace the Value entry with 0. For example, change this area of the Metabase.xml file so that it appears similar to the following:
  <IIsConfigObject Location="/LM/DS2MB/HighWaterMarks/{79F81D41-A652-4375-85F0-41A16037CC85}"
  >
  <Custom
  Name="UnknownName_61472"
  ID="61472"
  Value="0"
  Type="STRING"
  UserType="IIS_MD_UT_SERVER"
  Attributes="NO_ATTRIBUTES"
  />
5. Save your changes to the Metabase.xml file. Then, close Notepad.
Note You can also use the Metabase Editor tool (MetaEdit.exe) to change this value in the metabase.
To restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
2. Right-click Microsoft Exchange System Attendant, and then click Restart.
3. When you are prompted to restart the dependent Exchange Server services, click Yes.
  
  NoteWhen you restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is also restarted. In this scenario, your Exchange Server users lose connectivity to their Exchange Server mailboxes.
Restore the default IIS setting to disable real-time editing of the metabase. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Right-click ServerName(local computer), and then click Properties.
3. �Clear the�Enable Direct Metabase Edit check box, and then click OK.
  
  The virtual directories are re-created. To verify that the virtual directories are re-created, start IIS Manager, and then view the Default Web site folder.
  
  Important If the virtual directories are not re-created after 15 minutes, restart the computer.
Use a web browser to verify that you can connect to your Outlook Web Access server. If you are also running other mobility services, verify that you can connect to those services by using an appropriate client.�