XFOR: Internet Mail Service Moves Good Messages to the Archive Folder from the Pickup Folder (250441)

SYMPTOMS

When a large number of files are copied to the Exchange Server Internet Mail Service Pickup folder, a random message may be moved to the Archive folder and the following event may be logged in the application event log of the Microsoft Windows NT Event Viewer:

Event ID: 4164
Source: MSExchangeIMC
Category: Message Transfer
Description: the file file_name in the pickup directory could not be parsed to get the originator and recipients due to the error 0x80004005. It either contains no recipients, or it is not a valid 822 message. It is moved to the archive directory.

CAUSE

This issue can occur if the file does not have a size associated with it when it is first copied to the folder. The Internet Mail Service picks the file up, but the Internet Mail Service cannot process a file that has no size. Even though the file grows to its correct size on disk, the Internet Mail Service does not know that the file contains content.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 5.5. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

191014 XGEN: How to Obtain the latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, recopy the files from the Archive folder back to the Pickup folder.

However, you must be sure that these files are formatted correctly.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5. This problem was first corrected in Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 4.