Microsoft KB Archive/167194

= XADM: Could Not Modify the DL Membership of Object =

Article ID: 167194

Article Last Modified on 10/28/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q167194



SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to import recipients from a previously exported CSV file, the following error may be logged in the event log for 1 or more recipients:   Event ID: 284 Source: MSExchangeDSImp Description: Could not modify the DL membership of object <> because the directory service reported the following error: Changes cannot be   written to this directory object. Try connecting to a Microsoft Exchange Server computer in the same site as this object.



CAUSE
The above error occurs if you attempt to import a mailbox or custom recipient that includes a "Member of" attribute that points to a distribution list from a different site. The recipient gets created but import cannot add the recipient to the membership list for the given DL. This is because an object that does not belong to the directory on the local site cannot be directly written to.

This situation is common when you are using an exported list of users from a particular site. When you do this, the "Members" attribute is also exported. This attribute contains the distinguished name (DN) for any distribution list the recipient is a member of, including distribution lists (DLs) from external sites. As stated above, the local import function cannot modify attributes from external sites, so the function fails.



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, do one of the following:


 * Manually add the users to the DLs through the external site,

-OR-
 * Create a new import file to add the users to the DL membership.

Keywords: kbprb kbusage KB167194

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