The shutdown process takes longer than expected to finish on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer

When you shut down a Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer, the shutdown process takes longer than expected to finish.

When you shut down the Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer, the Active Directory directory service shuts down at the same time that the Microsoft Exchange Server services shut down. Therefore, Active Directory becomes unavailable when the Exchange Server services shut down.

For example, this problem causes Exchange Directory Service Access (DSAccess) searches to time out and to return errors. Additionally, the DSAccess searches sleep and then restart several times. Therefore, the Exchange Server services that wait for the DSAccess searches to finish are delayed.

To resolve this problem, install Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). To obtain Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1, visit the following Microsoft Web site: After you install Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1, the Exchange Server services take advantage of the new shutdown notification Active Directory control. Additionally, the following behavior occurs when you shut down a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer:

• The Exchange Server services are notified when Active Directory is about to shut down.
• Active Directory does not shut down until the Exchange Server services can remove their Active Directory dependency.

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

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