You cannot connect to your mailbox on Exchange Server when you use Entourage for Mac

When you use Microsoft Entourage for Mac, you cannot connect to your mailbox on Microsoft Exchange Server.

This issue can occur when the URL that is used by Entourage to connect to Exchange Server is in the wrong format.

To resolve this issue, manually configure the Exchange Server account properties in Entourage. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Entourage.
2. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
3. If you already have configured an account, click Exchange, click the account that you want, and then click Edit. Go to step 6.
   
   If you have not configured an account, click Exchange, and then click New.
4. If you do not receive the New Account dialog box, go to step 5.
   
   If you receive the New Account dialog box, click Assist me.
5. Click Configure account manually.
6. In the various entry boxes, type suitable values. Alternatively, keep previously entered values.
7. In the Exchange server box, type the value in one of the following formats, as appropriate for the network that you are using:
   • On the internal network, use the following format:
     server01.contoso.com/exchange/user@contoso.com
   • On the external network, use the following format:
     mail.contoso.com/exchange/user@contoso.com
   Note In these formats, user@contoso.com is a placeholder for your default SMTP address.
   
   Important If the mailbox resides on a computer that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, you must provide the name of the computer that is performing the Client Access Server role.
8. On the Advanced tab, enter other details as necessary. Alternatively, keep previously entered values. Then, click OK.
9. Exit and then restart Entourage. This makes sure that Entourage uses the newly entered Exchange Server account settings to connect to the mailbox on the server that is running Exchange Server.

This issue can occur when you cannot connect to the Exchange Server server by using its NetBIOS name. Entourage uses the NetBIOS name if you used the automatic Account Setup Assistant to configure the Exchange account.

You can also configure the Exchange account manually and then provide the NetBIOS name of the Exchange server to connect to the account. This procedure works if the following conditions are true:

• In Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or in earlier versions of Exchange Server, there is direct access to the mailbox server.
• In Exchange Server 2007, there is direct access to the server that is serving in the Client Access Server role.

Direct access is possible when the Entourage computer is located on the internal network.

When you try to automatically configure an account against a server that is running Exchange Server 2007, the NetBIOS name of the mailbox server is entered in the Exchange Server server field. This process causes the connection to fail. In order to make the connection work, you must provide the name of the Exchange Server 2007 computer that is serving in the Client Access Server role.

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