PC Adm: IMPORT.EXE Does Not Recover from Reset CONTROL.GLB (117738)

SYMPTOMS

The IMPORT utility (IMPORT.EXE) does not properly recover after the CONTROL.GLB file is reset (bytes set to zero). If the Mail administrator uses IMPORT.EXE to add users to the local postoffice after a CONTROL.GLB reset, these new users receive the same hexadecimal identifiers (hex-IDs) as existing users.

CAUSE

The CONTROL.GLB file uses two long integers to generate new, unique filenames (hex-IDs): one for generating new mailbag names and one for generating new mail and attachment names.

Every process that runs against the CONTROL.GLB file and generates any kind of new hex-ID can potentially corrupt or reset the CONTROL.GLB file. On occasion, some unknown problem (network, hardware, or software error) resets to zero all the CONTROL.GLB hex-IDs used for generating new mailbag names. When this happens, the Mail Administrator program (ADMIN.EXE) recognizes the error and properly resets the CONTROL.GLB for adding new users.

IMPORT.EXE does not recognize the CONTROL.GLB problem, however, and if the Mail administrator uses the IMPORT utility against a text file to import new users to a local postoffice, these new users receive hex-IDs already owned by existing postoffice users.

RESOLUTION

One short-term solution for the Mail administrator is to run the Mail Administrator program and rename newly added users with the same hex-ID as previous users to some unusable username (such as TEST1, TEST2, and so forth).

For further assistance, call Microsoft Mail Product Support Services. They can help you give the problem Mail accounts new hex-IDs so they can be either deleted or used properly, and can help you reset the CONTROL.GLB file so it contains usable values.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in versions 3.0 and 3.2 of Microsoft Mail for PC Networks. This problem was corrected in version 3.2a. For additional information about downloading, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

MORE INFORMATION

Here is a sample listing of a postoffice for which IMPORT.EXE has created two users with the same hex-id:

Name           ID number
 Admin          00000000
 User1          00000001
 User2          00000002
 User3          00000003
 User4          00000004
 NewUser1       00000000
 NewUser2       00000001
 NewUser3       00000002
 NewUser4       00000003
 NewUser5       00000004

The administrator cannot delete these new, problem accounts without removing the mailbag files of the old users.