XCON: How to Modify the SMTP Banner

When you use Telnet to connect to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service of a Windows 2000-based server (regardless of whether it is running Exchange 2000), the following banner is displayed:

Warning If you edit the metabase incorrectly, you can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall any product that uses the metabase. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that result if you incorrectly edit the metabase can be solved. Edit the metabase at your own risk.

Note Always back up the metabase before you edit it.

This may be an issue if you do not want the version of the SMTP service that is running on your server to be displayed. To remove the version information from the Windows 2000 SMTP banner, follow these steps:

1. Using a metabase editing tool such as MetaEdit, locate the following file:
   Lm\Smtpsvc\virtual server number
2. Click Edit, click New, and then click String.
3. Verify that the entry in the ID box is Other, and then type 36907 (decimal) on the right side of the ID box.
4. In the Data box, type the banner that you want to be displayed.
5. Stop, and then restart the SMTP virtual server or the SMTP service.

To confirm that the banner has been changed, telnet to port 25 of the virtual server (the default setting). The "ESMTP MAIL Service, Version: 5.0.2195.1600" banner should no longer be displayed.

NOTE: The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) (as it was entered in the SMTP service properties) and the date and time are still displayed. The following text is an example of modified banner: MetaEdit 2.2 is available for download by clicking the following Microsoft link: