Knowledge Base

Mailbox or folder sizes are incorrect in Exchange System Manager, Move Mailbox operations are unsuccessful, and unread receipt messages are not delivered in Exchange Server 2003

Article ID: 895265

Article Last Modified on 10/25/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SYMPTOMS

You may experience one or more of the following symptoms in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 organization:

Mailbox sizes are not reported correctly in Exchange System Manager. For example, the mailbox size that appears in Exchange System Manager differs greatly from the mailbox size that appears in Microsoft Outlook. Additionally, when you remove mailbox items, Exchange 2003 does not reclaim the space that those items used. Therefore, when you remove items from the mailbox, the mailbox size may not decrease as reported in Exchange System Manager.
When you try to move mailboxes, the operation is unsuccessful. The following event is logged in the Application log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeIS Mailbox Store
Event Category: General
Event ID: 1205
Date: Date
Time: Time
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER_NAME
Description: Failed to create the mailbox of /o=company/ou=orgunit/cn=Recipients/cn=username with error 0x4e3.
Exchange 2003 may not generate unread receipt messages for items that are deleted before they are read.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service background cleanup process does not run. The background cleanup process reclaims space that was used by deleted folders, by messages, or by message attachments. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

159306 IS maintenance tasks not on IS schedule

The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service background cleanup process does not run if the following default registry entries do not exist or are not populated correctly for one or more Exchange 2003 databases:

Background Cleanup
Track Duplicates

When you create and then mount an Exchange 2003 database, a database-specific registry key is automatically created. The database-specific registry key is populated with the registry entries that are mentioned earlier and their default values. By default, the Background Cleanup registry entry has a value of 60,000, and the Track Duplicates registry entry has a value of 1.

However, a problem might occur if you create an Exchange 2003 database, but you do not mount the database. In this case, the database-specific registry key might be created by a third-party program. When you mount this database, Exchange 2003 detects that the database-specific registry key already exists. In this scenario, Exchange 2003 does not create the Background Cleanup registry entry or the Track Duplicates registry entry. Therefore, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service background cleanup process does not run.

Some third-party antivirus programs create database-specific registry keys before the Exchange 2003 database is mounted. For example, this problem occurs in the following scenario:

You create a new Exchange 2003 database, but you do not mount this database.
You start the real-time scanning service in a particular third-party antivirus program.

Note The real-time scanning service may start in one or more of the following scenarios:

- The computer is restarted.
- The antivirus program is installed for the first time.
- The real-time scanning service in the antivirus program is manually restarted.
The antivirus program parses the Microsoft Windows registry under the following registry subkey for each Exchange 2003 database: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\<ServerName>
If the database-specific registry key does not exist, the antivirus program creates it.

Note Some antivirus programs automatically create these registry keys to create database-specific registry entries that are related to the antivirus program.

The Exchange 2003 database is mounted for the first time.
Exchange 2003 detects that the database-specific registry key exists. Therefore, Exchange 2003 does not create the Background Cleanup registry entry or the Track Duplicates registry entry.

RESOLUTION

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

836993 How to obtain the latest service packs for Exchange Server 2003

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem, submit a request to Microsoft Online Customer Services to obtain the hotfix. To submit an online request to obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6294451

Note If additional issues occur or any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. To create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Prerequisites

You must install Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 before you install this hotfix.

For more information about how to obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

836993 How to obtain the latest service packs for Exchange Server 2003

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix. However, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is automatically stopped and then restarted when you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version         Size       File name
   --------------------------------------------------------------
   21-Jun-2005  03:00  6.5.7233.28     3,261,952  Mdbmsg.dll       
   21-Jun-2005  03:33  6.5.7233.28     5,176,832  Store.exe

Hotfix Installation Information

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.To initiate the background cleanup process for existing databases that do not have the correct registry entries, you must manually set the registry entries.

Important When you follow these steps to resolve this problem, the background cleanup process runs to clean up all the items in the Exchange 2003 database files that would have been cleaned up regularly. Therefore, you may experience an increased load on the Exchange 2003 computer until the background cleanup process has finished. We recommend that you follow these steps during a time when the Exchange 2003 users will be minimally affected. Additionally, you may experience delayed unread receipt messages when the background cleanup catches up if the following conditions are true:

A message for which a read receipt was requested was received by a user on an affected database.
The message was deleted without being read.
The message was not cleaned up correctly because of this problem that is described in the Symptoms section.

Exchange 2003 will generate an unread receipt message for each message that was deleted before it was read.

Note These unread receipt messages are the same messages that would have been sent if you had not experienced this problem. These messages are delayed because of this problem. If you do not want Exchange 2003 to deliver these unread receipt messages, contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS). For more information about how to contact PSS Assisted Support, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=dm;en-us;select&target=assistance

After you install this hotfix, follow these steps for each Exchange 2003 database on each Exchange 2003 computer that is missing the Background Cleanup registry entry or the Track Duplicates registry entry:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\<ServerName>\Private-<MailboxStoreGUID>
Create the following registry entry:

Registry entry name: Background Cleanup
Value type: REG_ DWORD
Value data: 60000 (decimal) or 0xEA60 (hexadecimal)
Create the following registry entry:

Registry entry name: Track Duplicates
Value type: REG_ DWORD
Value data: 1
Quit Registry Editor.
Perform one of the following tasks:
- Dismount and then remount each one of the affected information store databases.
- Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates