Microsoft KB Archive/888033

= How to re-create the Exchange-related virtual directories in Internet Information Services 6 =

PSS ID Number: 888033

Article Last Modified on 4/6/2005

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The information in this article applies to:

 Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, when used with:  Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

 Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition 

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Important This article contains information about editing the metabase. Before you edit the metabase, verify that you have a backup copy that you can restore if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, see the &quot;Configuration Backup/Restore&quot; Help topic in Microsoft Management Console (MMC).



SUMMARY
This article describes how to configure the metabase update process (DS2MB) to re-create the Exchange virtual directory, the Exadmin virtual directory, and the Public virtual directory on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

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MORE INFORMATION
You may experience an issue where the Exchange virtual directory, the Exadmin virtual directory, or the Public virtual directory has been unintentionally removed from your Exchange server. In this scenario, these virtual directories are not automatically re-created when you restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service or when you restart the computer.

Note In Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, these virtual directories are automatically re-created when you restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service or when you restart the computer.

To resolve this issue, you must modify the Metabase.xml file. The modified Metabase.xml file causes the Exchange virtual directory, the Exadmin virtual directory, and the Public virtual directory 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.

Step 1: Enable real-time editing of the metabase
Configure Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) to enable real-time editing of the metabase. To do this, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.</li> Right-click  (local computer), and then click Properties.

Note Replace  with the name of your computer that is running IIS.</li> Click to select the Enable Direct Metabase Edit check box, and then click OK.</li></ol>

Step 2: Modify the Metabase.xml file
The metabase is a database that resides 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 modify the Metabase.xml file to cause the following virtual directories to be re-created in IIS when the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service restarts:

Exchange

Exadmin

Public

To do this, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> 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

</li> On the Edit menu, click Find.</li> In the Find what box, type 61472, and then click Find Next to locate the following area in this file:

<pre class="fixed_text"><IIsConfigObject    Location =&quot;/LM/DS2MB/HighWaterMarks/{79F81D41-A652-4375-85F0-41A16037CC85}&quot; >   <Custom Name=&quot;UnknownName_61472&quot; ID=&quot;61472&quot; Value=&quot;207778&quot; Type=&quot;STRING&quot; UserType=&quot;IIS_MD_UT_SERVER&quot; Attributes=&quot;NO_ATTRIBUTES&quot; />

</li> In this area of the Metabase.xml file, replace the Value entry with 0. For example, modify this area of the Metabase.xml file so that it appears similar to the following:

<pre class="fixed_text"><IIsConfigObject    Location =&quot;/LM/DS2MB/HighWaterMarks/{79F81D41-A652-4375-85F0-41A16037CC85}&quot; >   <Custom Name=&quot;UnknownName_61472&quot; ID=&quot;61472&quot; Value=&quot;0&quot; Type=&quot;STRING&quot; UserType=&quot;IIS_MD_UT_SERVER&quot; Attributes=&quot;NO_ATTRIBUTES&quot; />

</li> Save your changes to the Metabase.xml file, and then quit Notepad.</li></ol>

Note You can also use the Metabase Editor tool (MetaEdit.exe) to modify this value in the metabase. For more information about how to obtain MetaEdit, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

232068 How to download, install, and remove the IIS MetaEdit 2.2 utility

Step 3: Restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service
To restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.</li> Right-click Microsoft Exchange System Attendant, and then click Restart.</li> When you are prompted to restart the dependant Exchange services, click Yes.

Note When you restart the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is also restarted. In this scenario, your Exchange users lose connectivity to their Exchange mailboxes.</li></ol>

Step 4: Disable real-time editing of the metabase
Restore the default IIS setting to disable real-time editing of the metabase. To do this, follow these steps: <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.</li> Right-click  (local computer), and then click Properties.</li> Click to clear the Enable Direct Metabase Edit check box, and then click OK.</li></ol>

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