Outlook RPC Dialog Box Troubleshooting

The purpose of this document is to provide information that can be used to potentially resolve an issue�with the Outlook RPC Dialog Box.

The Outlook RPC Dialog Box appears even in the best of environments due to the nature of Exchange and Outlook client transactions and that the issue should only be investigated if the pop-up occurs frequently and/or for an unreasonable duration. This is documented in the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:


This issue is caused by a variety of factors that may be related to the server, client, and/or network. Resolving this issue is time consuming because it involves answering many questions and collecting and analyzing more data than is usually required to resolve other issues. It is highly recommended that you review the public documentation currently available and, at a minimum, perform the ExBPA health check in an effort to resolve this type of issue.

Also, you should ensure all servers and workstations are running with the latest Service Packs (Windows, Exchange, and Office) and Update Rollups (if Exchange Server 2007 or Exchange Server 2010).

Self-help resources

Below is a list of self-help resources for this scenario.

Description of the support process for issues that are related to the "Outlook is retrieving data" message in Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003
How to troubleshoot the RPC Cancel Request dialog box in Outlook 2003 or in Outlook 2002

Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant v1.1
Note�This is a simple tool that can be used to quickly determine if the Exchange server is experiencing a resource bottleneck.�


Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer
Note This is a simple tool that can be used to quickly identify known issues that might be contributing to performance issues.


What Causes Exchange Disk I/O (Exchange 2003)

What Causes Exchange Disk I/O (Exchange 2007)

A few basic concepts in disk sizing

Recommended Mailbox Size Limits

Outlook users experience poor performance when they work with a folder that contains many items on a server that is running Exchange Server

Using PFDAVAdmin to get the item count within the folders on mailboxes on an exchange servers

Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange Server 2003 performance may be affected when desktop search engine software is running on Outlook or other MAPI client computers

Server considerations

Optimizing Storage for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

Ruling Out Disk-Bound Problems

Ruling Out Memory-Bound Problems

How to optimize memory usage in Exchange Server 2003

Ruling Out Processor-Bound Problems

Understanding the Performance Impact of High Item Counts and Restricted Views

Performance Issues

White Paper: Planning for Large Mailboxes with Exchange 2007

Planning Storage Configurations

Planning Memory Configurations

Planning Processor Configurations

Client considerations

OL2002: You Receive the "Cancelable RPC" Dialog Box When You Use the Meeting Planner Options

A delay occurs when you open a message in Outlook 2002 with Instant Messaging enabled

Error message when you enable the "Show in Groups" option for a folder that contains thousands of e-mail messages in Outlook: "Outlook is retrieving data from the Microsoft Exchange Server <ServerName>"

You may experience poor performance when Outlook 2007 connects to an Exchange Server 2003 server

How to troubleshoot performance issues in Outlook 2007

Networking considerations

How to Troubleshoot Black Hole Router Issues

You experience intermittent communication failure between computers that are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003

Outlook RPC Dialog Box appears when you work offline on VPN in Outlook 2002

Miscellaneous

Troubleshooting Outlook RPC Dialog Boxes � revisited

An update to turn off default SNP features is available for Windows Server 2003-based and Small Business Server 2003-based computers

A 1016 event entry appears in the application event log after you upgrade to Outlook 2002 or to a later version of Outlook

Exchange 2003 Tools

Microsoft Product Support Reports (x86 version)

Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer v2.8

Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant v1.1

Performance Monitor Wizard (Exchange 2003)

Using PFDAVAdmin to get the item count within the folders on mailboxes on an exchange servers


Process Explorer (client-side tool to check for any 3rd party add-ins or applications that load in the Outlook process)

Exchange 2007 Tools

Microsoft Product Support Reports (x64 version)

Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer v2.8

Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant v1.1

Perfwiz replacement for Exchange 2007

Using PFDAVAdmin to get the item count within the folders on mailboxes on an exchange servers

Process Explorer (client-side tool to check for any 3rd party add-ins or applications that load in the Outlook process)