An Exchange Server 2003 recipient may receive a non-delivery report or an e-mail message that is not formatted correctly

When you open an e-mail message from your Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 mailbox, the e-mail message is not formatted correctly. The contents may appear scrambled. Or, after you send an e-mail message, you may receive a non-delivery report (NDR) that is similar to the following:

This problem occurs when all the following conditions are true:

• An Exchange 2003 recipient sends an e-mail message that is relayed from a smart host to a mailbox on another Exchange 2003 computer.
• The e-mail message contains a line of text that has more than 998 characters.
• The Exchange 2003 computer sends messages in MIME format by using 7-bit encoding.
• One of the following character sets or code pages are used to compose the e-mail message:
  • ISO-2022-KR
  • ISO-2022-JP
  • csISO2022JP
  • UTF-7

This problem occurs because the extended characters that are used in these international character sets are not included in the ASCII 7-bit character range. Therefore, an e-mail message that contains more than 998 characters cannot be wrapped. Additionally, the characters are labeled with incorrect 7-bit encoding during transport to the final mailbox server.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is 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 software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if 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. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To install this hotfix, you must be running Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). For additional information about how to obtain Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart your computer to install this hotfix. However, the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service and the Microsoft Exchange Event service are automatically restarted during the hotfix installation.

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.

Hotfix installation instructions

After you install this hotfix, you must configure a registry entry to set the MIME encoding method that you want to use. To do this, follow these steps:

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem\InternetContent
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type TransferEncodingFor7bit as the entry name, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click TransferEncodingFor7bit, and then click Modify.
6. In the Base area, click Decimal.
7. In the Value data box, type the value that you want, and then click OK.
   
   The values that you can use are listed in the following table:
   
   Note You must set the encoding method correctly. The encoding method depends on the clients and their encoding capability.
   Collapse this tableExpand this table

   Value	Behavior
   0	Always use default 7-bit transfer encoding for both HTML and plain text. Note This is the equivalent of setting Exchange to its pre-hotfix default behavior.
   1	Always use Quoted-Printable (QP) encoding for both HTML and plain text.
   2	Always use Base64 encoding for both HTML and plain text.
   5	Use QP encoding for HTML and plain text, unless plain text line wrapping is enabled. If plain text line wrapping is enabled, use QP encoding for HTML and 7-bit encoding for plain text.
   6	Use Base64 encoding for HTML and plain text, unless plain text line wrapping is enabled. If plain text line wrapping is enabled, use Base64 encoding for HTML and 7-bit encoding for plain text.
   13	Always use QP encoding for HTML. Always use 7-bit encoding for plain text.
   14	Always use Base64 encoding for HTML. Always use 7-bit encoding for plain text.

   The default value of 0 for 7-bit encoding is used if the registry subkey value contains a value that is not listed in this table or if the TransferEncodingFor7bit registry entry is not present.
8. Quit Registry Editor.
9. Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
   2. Right-click Microsoft Exchange Information Store, and then click Restart.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

The default MIME encoding in Exchange 2003 is 7-bit transfer encoding. The MIME encoding in some Asian languages must be set to an encoding method that is different from 7-bit encoding to wrap lines of text that contain more than 998 characters.

For additional information about this same problem in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about a version of this hotfix for the original release version of Exchange Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about Microsoft software updates, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: