XADM: Admin.exe Program Causes Access Violation When Attempting to Duplicate User

When you duplicate a template user by clicking Duplicate User on the File menu, the Admin.exe program may cause an access violation and may stop responding (or "crash"). An error message similar to the following is displayed:

This issue can occur if the template user resides on a server that is configured with an Active Directory Connector (ADC) Connection Agreement with a Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory and the template user is also a member of a distribution list.

To determine whether you are encountering the issue that this article discusses, you need to use the Microsoft Exchange Server Administrator program in raw mode.

WARNING: If you use the raw mode of the Exchange Server Administrator program (admin /r) incorrectly, serious problems may occur that may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows NT Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, or both. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that result from using raw mode incorrectly can be solved. Use raw mode at your own risk.

1. Start the Microsoft Exchange Server Administrator program in raw mode by typing the following at a command prompt:
   c:\exchsrvr\bin\admin.exe /r
2. Check the raw properties of the template user (to do so, press SHIFT+ENTER) to determine if the raw properties contain an ADC_GLOBAL_NAMES attribute. This attribute only exists if the user is part of a recipients container for which an ADC Connection Agreement is configured.
3. Check the normal properties of the template user to determine whether that user is a member of any distribution lists.

The Admin.exe program earlier than version 5.5.2652.56 does not properly duplicate a user who is a member of a distribution list and also contains the ADC_GLOBAL_NAMES attribute.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 5.5. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this issue, use a template user who does not belong to any distribution lists and manually add the new duplicated user to the distribution lists after the duplication.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 4.