XADM: Cannot Remotely Administer IMC or MSMCON on WinNT 4.0 (164854)

SYMPTOMS

If you have computer running Windows NT 4.0, a Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 or 4.0a computer with Internet Mail Connector (IMC) on it, and connect with a remote admin to the server, when you click on the Connections\Internet Mail Connector to display its properties, you receive the following message:

Error message:
Internet Mail Connector
The data to be configured could not be loaded

No information is loaded and clicking on every tab leads to the error:

Internet Mail Connector:
An error occurred while saving the changes to your settings

This occurs with the correct admin rights configured on the site and on configuration in Microsoft Exchange.

You receive the following error message when attempting to modify the MSMail Connector:

The MSMail Connector Registry Key
System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeMSMI\Parameters\Admin
could not be opened because the Registry Security is not set up
correctly.

You will not be able to view all the property sheets because the MSMail Connector could not initialize completely.

CAUSE

The admin account that is used in the remote admin is not a Windows NT administrator on the Microsoft Exchange 4.0 server. By default, nobody but a Windows NT Administrator can access remote registries in Windows NT version 4.0. This is a change from Windows NT version 3.51, where everyone had full access to remote registries.

Because some Microsoft Exchange components use the registry, Microsoft Exchange Administrators cannot administer some components of remote Microsoft Exchange servers unless they are also Windows NT Administrators.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 4.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Exchange 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

Microsoft Exchange Server setup and System Attendant will now change the registry keys that a Microsoft Exchange Administrator needs write access to and grant that user read/write permission.