Known issues that cause the “HTTP 500 internal server error” error message in Exchange Server 2003 Outlook Web Access

This article describes several known issues that cause the following error message to appear in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Outlook Web Access:The article describes the situations in which you might receive the error message, and describes the resolution for each issue. The situations in which you might receive the error message are as follows:

• You try to access your mailbox or the public folders.
• You try to view Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)-encrypted message.
• You publish an Exchange Server 2003 Outlook Web Access site behind Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server.

You try to access your mailbox or the public folders

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message when you try to access your mailbox or the public folders. This issue may occur in one or more of the following scenarios.

Scenario 1: The mailbox-enabled user has a duplicate e-mail address

If you are a mailbox-enabled user who has a duplicate e-mail address, you may receive the "HTTP 500" error message when you try to log on to the mailbox by using Outlook Web Access. To work around this issue, you can use the Active Directory directory service's Find feature to make sure that the e-mail address that you specify is not used by any other object. Do this when you want to change the e-mail address for an object. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Scenario 2: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is installed on the server cluster

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message if your mailbox is hosted on a server cluster that is running a clustered Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 back-end server that has Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 installed.

To resolve this issue, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 2003. For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Scenario 3: You apply the Group Policy templates that are described in the Security Operations Guide for Microsoft Windows 2000

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message after you apply the Group Policy templates that are described in the Security Operations Guide for Windows 2000.

This issue occurs because the Outlook Web Access user does not have Read access permissions to the Cluster service (Clussvc.exe) on the cluster node.

To resolve this issue, modify the Group Policy object that you used to apply the Group Policy templates from the Security Operations Guide for Windows 2000. Do this to give the Outlook Web Access users Read access to the Cluster service. For more information about how to do this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Scenario 4: The "NetworkAddress" property of the Exchange server object in Active Directory is not set to include the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server

When you access your mailbox by using Outlook Web Access through a front-end Exchange Server 2003 computer, you may receive the "HTTP 500" error message or the following error message:This issue occurs if the NetworkAddress property of any of the Exchange server objects in Active Directory is not set to include the FQDN of the server.

Typically, the NetworkAddress property of an Exchange server object is not set if one or more of the following conditions are true:

• When you installed a new back-end Exchange server, you used the option that directs the System Attendant service not to start when the Setup program is completed.
• When you installed a new back-end Exchange server, the Setup program was not successfully completed.
• You successfully installed a new back-end Exchange server. However, replication problems prevent the replication of the NetworkAddress property to all domain controllers.

Note These back-end servers might be running any version of Exchange Server.

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods, as appropriate for your situation.

Method 1: Restart the System Attendant service

1. Restart the System Attendant service on the newly installed back-end Exchange server. The NetworkAddress property of a newly installed Exchange server object is set when the System Attendant service starts for the first time.
2. Use Outlook Web Access to verify that you have access to your mailbox.

Method 2: Correct the initial Setup program issue

1. Examine your event logs and the Exchange log file to identify and to correct the initial Setup program issue.
2. Restart the System Attendant service.
3. Use Outlook Web Access to verify that you have access to your mailbox.

Method 3: Manually set the "NetworkAddress" property

If the issue is not resolved by method 1 or by method 2, you must manually set the NetworkAddress property to temporarily resolve the issue. Then, verify that the NetworkAddress property is correctly replicated to all domain controllers.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. On a computer that has the Windows Support Tools installed, click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.
2. On the Action menu, click Connect to.
3. In the Computer area, click Select. Alternatively, type a domain or server name.
4. Type the name of the domain controller to which you want to connect, and then click OK.
5. Expand Configuration, and then expand CN=Configuration, DC= Domain_Name, DC= Root_Domain.
6. Expand Services, expand Microsoft Exchange, and then expand Organization_Name.
7. Expand Administrative groups, expand Administrative_Group_Name, and then expand Servers.
8. Right-click the Exchange server object with which you want to work, and then click Properties.
   
   If you are not sure which Exchange server is causing the issue, examine the NetworkAddress property of each Exchange server object.
9. In the Attribute column, double-click NetworkAddress.
10. In the Value to add box, type ncacn_ip_tcp: Server_Name.Domain_Name.Root_Domain. Then, click Add.
    
    Notes In this step, the text to the right of the colon (:) corresponds to the FQDN of the server.
    
    You can use the existing value from another server object as a template. To do this, look for an entry that has the "ncanc_ip_tcp" text string, and then copy the FQDN.
11. Click OK two times.
12. Exit the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) Edit snap-in.
13. Restart the World Wide Web Publishing service on each front-end Exchange 2003 computer that serves Outlook Web Access users.
14. Verify that the NetworkAddress property is correctly replicated to all domain controllers.
15. Use Outlook Web Access to verify that you have access to your mailbox.

You try to view a Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)-encrypted message

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message when you try to view a PGP-encrypted message in Outlook Web Access.

After you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server to Exchange Server 2003, e-mail messages that were sent before the upgrade and that are encrypted by using PGP encryption are no longer available.

To resolve this issue, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 2003. For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

You publish an Exchange Server 2003 Outlook Web Access site behind Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message when you publish an Exchange Server 2003 Outlook Web Access site behind ISA Server. This issue may occur in one or more of the following scenarios.

Scenario 1: You try to open a message or to view a message in the preview pane in Outlook Web Access

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message when you try to open a particular message or try to view a particular message in the preview pane in Outlook Web Access.

This issue may occur if the following conditions are true:

• The message that you try to open or to preview contains a high-bit character in the subject line.
• The Web publishing rule that you use to publish to the computer that is running Exchange Server is configured to block high-bit characters.

For more information about how to resolve this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Scenario 2: You try to download a compressed (.zip) file attachment in Outlook Web Access

You may receive the "HTTP 500" error message when you try to download a .zip file attachment in Outlook Web Access. This issue may occur if the following conditions are true:

• You install ISA Server 2004 Service Pack 2.
• You publish to the computer that is running Exchange Server in ISA Server 2004 by using a "Publish a Web Server" rule.

For more information about how to resolve these issues, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To obtain the Security Operations Guide for Windows 2000, visit the following Microsoft Web site:To obtain the templates that are described in the Security Operations Guide for Windows 2000, visit the following Microsoft Web site: