Share via

POP3 and IMAP4 May Not Work as Expected After You Upgrade to Exchange Server 2007 SP1 or a later version

  • Article

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol version 4rev1 (IMAP4) connectivity may not work as expected after you upgrade a Client Access server to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or a later version. This is because the POP3 and IMAP4 configuration files are reset to the default values during the service pack installation process. This behavior is by design.

Important

If you do not keep the settings that you have customized, users who connect to Exchange 2007 by using POP3 and IMAP4 may experience service interruptions.

To keep any POP3 and IMAP4 configuration settings that you have customized, you must reapply those customized settings after you upgrade the Client Access server to Exchange 2007 service pack. Although you could reapply those settings manually after the SP1 installation, we recommend that you back up and restore those settings by using the procedures in this topic.

Procedure

Perform the following procedures if you want to keep the POP3 and IMAP4 configuration settings on your computer that is running Exchange 2007 after you upgrade to Exchange 2007 SP1 or a later version.

To back up the settings in the POP3 and IMAP4 configuration files

  1. On the Client Access server, navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\PopImap, where C:\ is the directory in which you installed Exchange Server 2007.

  2. Copy the following files and archive them in an alternative directory on your Client Access server:

    Microsoft.Exchange.Pop3.exe.Config

    Microsoft.Exchange.Imap4.exe.Config

  3. Rename the version of the files that you copied to the alternative directory using a descriptive name. For example, you could name them the following:

    Microsoft.Exchange.Imap4.exe.Config_Pre-SP1

    Microsoft.Exchange.Pop3.exe.Config_Pre-SP1

To restore the configuration settings after you upgrade the Client Access server to Exchange 2007 SP1 or a later version

  1. Use any text editor, such as Notepad, to open the POP3 configuration file that you backed up in the previous procedure. For example, Microsoft.Exchange.Pop3.exe.Config_Pre-SP1.

  2. Scroll to the end of the configuration file. Select the following lines of the configuration file, and then click Copy.

    <appSettings>

    <add key="MaxIoThreadsPerCPU" value="0" />

    <add key="ConnectionCacheSize" value="250" />

    <add key="ProtocolLog" value="false" />

    <add key="LogPath" value="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Logging\Pop3" />

    <add key="AgeQuotaInHours" value="24" />

    <add key="SizeQuota" value="10000000" />

    <add key="PerFileSizeQuota" value="1000000" />

    <add key="AllowCrossSiteSessions" value="false"/>

    </appSettings>

    Note

    The values in the file that you backed up will differ from those in this example.

  3. On the Client Access server, go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\PopImap, where C:\ is the directory in which you installed Exchange Server 2007.

  4. Use any text editor, such as Notepad, to open the file Microsoft.Exchange.Pop3.exe.Config, and then scroll to the end of the file.

  5. Select the lines that contain the default configuration settings (that is, the <appSettings> line through the </appSettings> lines), click Paste to replace the default configuration settings with the settings on your clipboard, and then save and close the file.

  6. Use any text editor, such as Notepad, to open the IMAP4 configuration file that you backed up in the previous procedure. For example, Microsoft.Exchange.Imap4.exe.Config_Pre-SP1.

  7. Scroll to the end of the configuration file. Copy the following lines of the configuration file.

    <appSettings>

    <add key="MaxIoThreadsPerCPU" value="0" />

    <add key="ConnectionCacheSize" value="250" />

    <add key="ProtocolLog" value="false" />

    <add key="LogPath" value="C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Logging\Imap4" />

    <add key="AgeQuotaInHours" value="24" />

    <add key="SizeQuota" value="10000000" />

    <add key="PerFileSizeQuota" value="1000000" />

    <add key="AllowCrossSiteSessions" value="false"/>

    </appSettings>

    Note

    The values in the file that you backed up will differ from those in this example.

  8. On the Client Access server, navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\ClientAccess\PopImap, where C:\ is the directory in which you installed Exchange Server 2007.

  9. Use any text editor, such as Notepad, to open the file Microsoft.Exchange.Imap4.exe.Config, and then scroll to the end of the file.

  10. Select the lines that contain the default configuration settings (that is, the <appSettings> line through the </appSettings> lines), click Paste to replace the default configuration settings with the settings on your clipboard, and then save and close the file.

  11. Restart the Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service and the Microsoft Exchange POP3 service.

For More Information

For information about how to enable cross-site connectivity for your POP3 and IMAP4 clients, see How to Enable Cross-Site Connectivity for POP3 and IMAP4 Clients.