You receive a "The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion" error message when you use the Internet Mail Service Wizard in Exchange Server 5.5 SP3

When you use the Internet Mail Service Wizard in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3 (SP3) on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP6a or Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, the Exchange Internet Mail Service may not start successfully. Additionally, you may receive the following error message:When this issue occurs, the following events are logged in the application event log:

Event ID: 4004
Source: MSExchangeIMC
Category: Initialization/Termination
Event Type: Error
Description: The following error occurred while trying to retrieve TCP/IP service information ((11004)).

Event ID: 4020
Source: MSExchangeIMC
Category: Initialization/Termination
Event Type: Error
Description: Unable to start the service because WINSOCK could not be initialized.

This issue may occur if the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) entry in the Services file is missing or is commented out.

To resolve this issue, verify that the Services file exists in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers\Etc folder. If the Services file does not exist in this folder, you must copy the Services file into this folder from another computer on your network.

To verify that the SMTP entry exists, follow these steps:

1. Open the Services file by using a text editor such as Notepad.
2. If the SMTP entry exists but is commented out, remove the number sign (#) at the beginning of the line.
3. If the SMTP entry does not exist, use one of the following methods:
   • In Windows NT 4.0, position your cursor on a new line at the end of the file, and then type the following text on that line:
     
     smtp 25/tcp mail
     
     Note Press the TAB key after you type smtp and after you type 25/tcp.
   • In Windows 2000, position your cursor on a new line at the end of the file, and then type the following text on that line:
     
     smtp 25/tcp mail #Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
     
     Note Press the TAB key after you type smtp, after you type 25/tcp, and after you type mail.
4. Save the file.
5. Quit Notepad.