NT Error 2140; event id 4018; 4116 - Internet service

[bettyb]

Occassionally after a boot, I can't start the Internet services for exchange. BUT If I wait a few minutes, I can.

At the service start I get the error 2140; my event logs report 4018 and 4116.

I have researched Microsoft's posting and many technical forums, including this one, but can't seem to find the answer.

It eventually starts, BUT I am concerned trouble is brewing. Does anyone have a GOOD LINK with a discussion of this issue? thank you

 

[dennisbbb]

From Microsoft.com:

SYMPTOMS 1:

When you start the Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Service , the following events may appear in the application event log: Event ID: 4018
Type: Error
Source: MSExchangeIMC

Description:
Unable to start the Internet Mail Connector service because
MAPI could not be initialized.

Event ID: 4116
Type: Error
Source: MSExchangeIMC

Description:
An error was returned from the messaging software, the Internet
Mail Service uses, to process messages on the Microsoft Exchange
Server. It is possible that the piece of mail being processed
at the time will not be delivered. The message that was being
processed has been moved to the "BAD" folder. Use the appropriate
utilities found in the SUPPORT directory of your Exchange CD to view and
manipulate these messages.

CAUSE
A possible cause of these errors is that the Exchange service account lacks the proper access rights to the Winnt\System32 (%System Root%\System32) directory.

The service account must have change rights to this directory to be able to modify the Mapisvc.inf file located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 directory.

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, give the service account at least change rights to the %SystemRoot%\System32 directory.



SYMPTOMS 2:

When you start the Internet Mail Connector (IMC), you may receive the following error message:

Error 2140: An internal Windows NT error occurred.
The following event is logged in the application event log:
Event ID: 4018
Type: Error
Source: MSExchangeIMC
Category: Initialization/Termination
Description:

Unable to start the Internet Mail Connector service because
MAPI could not be initialized.

CAUSE
If you receive this error, check the following:


Verify that Mapisvc.inf is located in the proper folder. It should be in the %System Root%\System32 folder.
Verify that the Exchange Service Account has at least change rights on the Mapisvc.inf file in the <systemroot>\System32 folder.
Verify that you have a private information store on that server. For more information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
157042 Event ID 4018 if IMC Started Without Private IS

Verify that the CommonName and HomeDSA registry entries are present and valid. They will be listed under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIMC
\Parameters

 

[bettyb]

thanks - I have those knowledgebase articles and checked these items. And that is the exact message I see, but I don't see that as my problem.

The part that throws me is - - it fails the first time I try to start it but starts the 2nd time I try to start it.
Now it's been running 24 hours - no problem.

 

[Boyan]

Yes this MS answer is useless. There is something else going on that they probably do not know of. I have seen this on 50-60 servers. The exact same issue. It will be very helpful if someone posts a true solution. If MS wants to dig into this I will be willing to work with them.

It is a major hassle since servers do reboot now and then and IMS does not always start,.

 

[bettyb]

I agree.

I have booted the server in question about 5 times since my original post AND haven't seen this problem again.

I am somewhat suspicious that is has something to do with my Symantec NAV services being at a certain startup point, but have no real proof.

So now, I boot and wait a few minutes and then start the internet connection.

 

[Epistemic]

I actually found the ANSWER!!! Thanks to all your posts. It is NOT in the Microsoft KB. But it is related to it.

After trying all the patches, rebooting, searching, even changing the properties of IMC to restart after failing on the first, second and third attempts (with 1 minute intervals in between), nothing worked. Then, I remembered that sometimes, in either (or both) the registry or file itself, the rights are not properly propagated. For example, sometimes a user named USER is a member of the ADMINISTRATOR group (so you'd think the USER user would have Admin rights always). Windows, in conjunction with the REGISTRY sometimes does not properly propagate rights correctly. So I experimented.

I went to the systemroot>\System32 folder and looked for the Mapisvc.inf file. It was not marked read-only. I could copy it, delete it, etc (don't try it though). I right-clicked on the file, went to properties, security and manually added the domain administrator (even though it showed the group ADMINISTRATORS (and DOMAIN ADMINISTRATORS is indeed part of this group) and gave the user (USER) full rights to the file, propagating all rights (making sure that ALLOW INHERITABLE PERMISSIONS was checked). Clicked on OK.

I restarted the Exchange Server (warm reboot). VOILA! I was quite ecstatic to see the event log had no errors...

Hope that helps you all.