Most organizations use a directory service to find email addresses of users who are not listed in local address books or not listed in corporate directories such as the Global Address List. One of the most often used directory service providers out there is known as a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server, more commonly described as an LDAP server.

LDAP originally provided access to ISO X.500 directory service. But it has grown to also support various directory services, namespace, access protocol and rules. It also describes their interactions based on the X.500 model.

Clients can access the LDAP server and make requests for information contained in the directory. Email clients would be interested in locating email addresses of people who are not in the local directories. An LDAP server can also be used to answer requests from web browsers, management applications and other such clients. If the LDAP server queried cannot provide the information requested then it can forward the request to another LDAP server.

In the Microsoft world both Exchange Server and Outlook support LDAP. Email clients can submit queries in search of email addresses of users outside their internal directories.

There is an Office Customization Tool (OCT) which will allow an administrator to configure LDAP search actions such that certain searches are disabled or passed through custom filters. A Group Policy setting can also be used to limit LDAP searches. Custom filters can be implemented and provided to end users by changes made to either the Outlook Profile (PRF) file or by making changes in the registry.

Continue reading Troubleshooting Outlook and LDAP Issues

Password problems can be perplexing – sorry I couldn’t resist the tongue twister

Seriously, administrators will have the challenge of correcting password issues under time constraints as business activities and users are all working toward completing projects on time. So having a tool chest of techniques for solving and correcting password issues is a requisite of any good administrator.

One problem that you will encounter from time to time is when passwords are not being kept by Outlook even though they have been specified to be retained. This may happen even if the “Save Password” box has been checked.

Several solutions have been offered on the internet.

Deleting User Account Information

One solution involves deleting the user account information and resetting the password. This method involves making changes to the Registry. As always, anytime you touch the registry you should always back it up first.

There are other times when Outlook doesn’t remember the passwords after the operating system has been reinstalled. The system is configured correctly in that the correct passwords are in the account properties but when the end user attempts to send or receive an email they get the username and password dialog box popup.

Disabling Prompts

Another solution you can try is to disable the prompt that asks to save passwords. You can do so by bringing up the Control Panel by going to the lower left corner of the screen and clicking on the Start button and then click on Control Panel. Once you have the control panel up you should then double click on Internet Options and select the Content tab. Next, click on the AutoComplete button in the Personal Information section. Check the box for “User names and passwords on forms” and uncheck the box for “Prompt me to save passwords”. You should now close Outlook and then restart it and try your password again.

Continue reading Troubleshooting Outlook Password Problems

As an administrator you are often called upon to upgrade Office and other Microsoft products for your end users. You also know that getting error messages are part of the process and that very few upgrades are smooth.

One of the error messages you may receive, after upgrading Office XP, is an error message indicating that MAPI was unable to load the information service Pstprx.dll.

This can happen if you were upgrading and you were also using Microsoft Outlook in Internet Mail Only (IMO) mode. If you remove Office XP and then revert back to Microsoft Office and then try your upgrade again you might receive a MAPI error message when you attempt to restart Outlook. Oftentimes this happened with upgrades involving Microsoft Office 2000, Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002.

Continue reading How to fix loading of Information Service Pstprx.dll

The problem of how to grant services to end users of Microsoft Outlook is solved through the use of Messaging API (MAPI) profiles.

MAPI profiles are how administrators configure user accounts to describe their service options such as their mailbox and directories that are available to the end user. The profiles can be used to define and describe the location of an end user’s offline folder store (OST) and personal folder store (PST).

MAPI profiles contain registry settings and can be edited using “regedit”. Always backup your registry before making any changes. Most of the registry settings can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Microsoft offers two tools – PROFGEN and NEWPROF – to help administrators with the administration and maintenance of user account profiles. These tools can be used to edit the contents of the MAPI profiles and can help with diagnosing problems associated with MAPI profiles. Other tools are available.

Another tool you can use to modify profile settings is the NewProf.exe utility that is included with Outlook. You can get more information about how to use this utility by reviewing the following site in the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN):
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms527375.aspx

(The above link has been retired. Please use the following link for more information about how to use the NewProf.exe utility.)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/145905 

You can also review the article number, 145905, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base for more information about the Newprof.exe command line options. Continue reading Creating MAPI Profiles

I’m sure your users have encountered many times not being able to start their email programs. It can be very frustrating especially when you, as an administrator, are not in full control of software that gets installed onto end users computers.

Sometimes, after starting Microsoft Office Outlook, they get an error message that tells them that their MAPI32.DLL file is corrupt. The error message will also indicate that the DLL file is possible the wrong version. How can this happen?

Usually this happens after other message software has been installed. The error message will go on to suggest that Outlook itself be removed. This is when having well-known company policies in place can prevent such unwanted installs from occurring. Also setting up user accounts with limited privileges can stop end users from installing additional, unapproved software – such as beta software – onto company computers.

Now that you have a problem lets talk about how to fix it. Continue reading Troubleshooting Error Code 926196

Sending, receiving and opening up documents as email attachments is as common as opening and closing doors on a daily basis. But sometimes documents do not open up and can cause much frustration to someone who is expecting an important document so that they can proceed with their business of the day.

If you are having problems opening file attachments then you might be in need of a converter or viewer. Microsoft has many converters and viewers to help you with opening up a variety of documents attached to emails.

There are even Microsoft-supplied import/export converters which support the ability to open non-Outlook mail. Converters allow you to open up documents created by other programs and to save Outlook files in other file formats.  Converters exist to allow you to open up such files from common time and information management programs.

Continue reading A Guide to Converters and Viewers for Email Attachments

 It is possible to receive the error, 938816, when one of two conditions exist:

1. You are attempting to create a new MAPI form or you’ve tried to open some custom forms in Outlook 2003.
2. You notice changes in how your application runs after you’ve installed post-Office 2003 Service Pack 3 updates.

The unwanted behaviors that you will see in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 can include any of the following effects:

• You are receiving messages asking you to contact the administrator after you’ve created a new MAPI form in Outlook 2003.
• Or you are getting a message that informs you that a form could not be displayed and that you should again contact your administrator. This can occur if you are for instance attempting to open a custom form.
• Or, after receiving a custom form as an email item you try to open it and get a message stating that the form cannot be opened or displayed. You are again asked to contact your administrator.

To fix these error conditions you should go to the Microsoft Support web site and search for the file:  EnableMAPIFormsInOutlook.msi. Select the file and then click Run in the File Download dialog box. The Fix it wizard will walk you through the steps to correct this error.

Continue reading Troubleshooting Outlook Error 938816

When you encounter the Outlook error 287570 you may be in a situation where one of the following has occurred:

1. You Receive an Error Message About a Recently Installed Program When You Start Outlook 2002.
2. If you start Exchange System Manager and then click the Client permissions tab of a public folder, you may receive one of the following error messages:

• The information store could not be opened. The logon to the Microsoft Exchange server computer failed.
• A recently installed program may cause Microsoft Office or other e-mail-enabled programs to function improperly. Outlook can resolve this conflict without affecting the program that originally caused the problem. Do you want Outlook to resolve this problem?
• Outlook was unable to resolve the conflict between a recently installed program and Microsoft Office or other e-mail-enabled programs. Outlook needs to modify a system component that another program is currently using. To fix this problem, please restart Windows.

Continue reading Troubleshooting Outlook Error 287570

If you use Microsoft Outlook then you will run into many email MAPI related errors over time. A couple of the errors you may encounter include:

• Receiving an error message if a file conflicts with the MAPI file on your computer when you start Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003.
• Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Mapi32.dll is corrupt or the wrong version.

When you start Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you may receive the following error message:

“A recently installed program may cause Microsoft Office or other e-mail-enabled programs to function improperly. Outlook can resolve this conflict without affecting the program that originally caused the problem. Do you want Outlook to resolve this problem?”

This issue may occur if there is a file conflict with the MAPI file on your computer.

Continue reading Troubleshooting MAPI errors while running Outlook

Sometimes you receive error messages when using Microsoft Outlook in conjunction with Microsoft Word. You might be trying to send a Word document as an email attachment. The problem could be with how Word starts up, the command line startup and/or with the startup switches. The result is that you will receive MAPI errors.

If you’re trying to send a Word document as an email attachment you may receive an error message such as: “Word couldn’t send mail because of MAPI error: ‘Unspecified error’”.

This problem can occur if the following conditions are all true:

• You started Microsoft Word 2000 and your MAPI e-mail program (for example, Microsoft Outlook 2000).
• In Microsoft Word, you chose to send the current document as an attachment (on the File menu, point to Send To, and then click Mail Recipient (as Attachment)), but you did not send the message.
• You quit and logged off of your MAPI e-mail program. For example, in Microsoft Outlook 2000, on the File menu, you clicked Exit and Log Off.
• In Word, you again chose to send the current document as an attachment.

Continue reading Troubleshooting Outlook email errors involving Word documents.