Outlook and Exchange 2013 setup issues

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irBosOtter

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Was wondering if anyone have ever came across this issue:

When setting up Outlook it goes through the steps, auto-discover working fine, fills in the details, but at step 3 it bombs out and gives the following error:
outlook.jpg

Google that error and it gives one so many things to try, and I tried most of them but nothing seems to solve it except the following that I got from this site, http://www.msoutlook.info/question/531 and that is to "Force clients to connect via a specific Global Catalog server"
Implementing the registry settings on the client pc solves the issue right away, removing the reg settings and the issue is back. This to me is a workaround although desktop support has been using it as a fix for a few months now.
I'm pretty sure there is something wrong in AD/DNS/Exchange. Running ntdsutil etc shows no errors, no old DC's anywhere to be found, DNS seems fine, global catalog servers are all fine, so not really sure what else to check. Probably going to run a wireshark trace on a pc and see what GC it's trying to talk to, but not sure that will help seeing all GC's are up and runnig without any issues.
Metadata cleanup from old failed DC (That failed DC did not have any master roles) has been done a year ago, issues only started when we migrated to Exchange 2013 from 2010 last year... Had a few guys from Microsoft look around our environment but they can't find any issues either...

Don't want desktop support to use the "workaround" as we will decommission that DC at some point this year or next year, then all clients are pointing to a GC that no longer exists, that might just give more issues in the end.
 
Have you used the reg hack to test each of the GC's in turn, maybe one of them does have an issue? Are all your _gc and _autodiscover DNS entries in place?
 
morkhans said:
Have you used the reg hack to test each of the GC's in turn, maybe one of them does have an issue? Are all your _gc and _autodiscover DNS entries in place?
Click to expand...

Yes ja those DNS entries are in place.

Will ask the desktop team if they tested them all, think they have but you never know thanks
 
Ok well that's about the end of my Windows know how.

Good luck :D
 
grim said:
https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/
Click to expand...

So can I send you the results perhaps and you can double check that all is fine? (Would need your mail address :) )

Warnings are: (But I do not think that is really an issue, or is it?)
Analyzing the certificate chains for compatibility problems with versions of Windows.
Potential compatibility problems were identified with some versions of Windows.

Additional Details

The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer can only validate the certificate chain using the Root Certificate Update functionality from Windows Update. Your certificate may not be trusted on Windows if the "Update Root Certificates" feature isn't enabled.
Elapsed Time: 164 ms.
 
Well, now I see moving the user account to another OU in AD causes auto discover not to work, but when you fill in the details manually in the Outlook setup screen then it connects fine... very strange, wonder if it's not to do with permissions on the OU's in AD then...
 
irBosOtter said:
So can I send you the results perhaps and you can double check that all is fine? (Would need your mail address :) )

Warnings are: (But I do not think that is really an issue, or is it?)
Analyzing the certificate chains for compatibility problems with versions of Windows.
Potential compatibility problems were identified with some versions of Windows.

Additional Details

The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer can only validate the certificate chain using the Root Certificate Update functionality from Windows Update. Your certificate may not be trusted on Windows if the "Update Root Certificates" feature isn't enabled.
Elapsed Time: 164 ms.
Click to expand...

That's normal

irBosOtter said:
Well, now I see moving the user account to another OU in AD causes auto discover not to work, but when you fill in the details manually in the Outlook setup screen then it connects fine... very strange, wonder if it's not to do with permissions on the OU's in AD then...
Click to expand...

Try disabling/enabling inheritance under advanced security options for the user account

Also what do you see when you access https://servername.company.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml with the same user account? It should give a short XML with error 600 - Invalid request
 
grim said:
That's normal



Try disabling/enabling inheritance under advanced security options for the user account

Also what do you see when you access https://servername.company.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml with the same user account? It should give a short XML with error 600 - Invalid request
Click to expand...

Yes, I do get error 600 at least.

Some of the accounts did have their inheritance disabled, but that was sorted last year so all accounts now inherit permissions. Did disable it now, then re-enabled it but still no luck.

MS advised to run AD and Exchange prep again but that did not work either. I did run a tool to compare permissions/security on the OU's, damn, I think there was to many people here in the past that applied changes that they should not have etc as it's quite a mess lol
 
Which version of Outlook are you using?

Is the Exchange server up-to-date? Exchange 2013 CU 7 is the latest update
 
Also, check in you _msdcs zone that you don't have any invalid DNS entries for old servers
 
grim said:
Which version of Outlook are you using?

Is the Exchange server up-to-date? Exchange 2013 CU 7 is the latest update
Click to expand...

Outlook 2013 with all updates, Exchange is not up to date, going to update soon to see if that helps.
OS of clients does not matter, all of them has the same issue, we did log another call with MS, but they want you to write a "essay" regarding the issues and what you have tried etc before they look at it, will do that when I have the time lol

Another thing that is strange is when you setup Outlook from a external location (not using VPN, just over a ADSL line or 3G connection) it works fine apparently, did not test that part myself, was told by desktop support, so will test that as well to see if it is the case

I'm still trying to find answers as to why it works fine when one points the pc to use a specific GC, most sites still show that as the "fix" but to me that's more a workaround...
 
grim said:
Also, check in you _msdcs zone that you don't have any invalid DNS entries for old servers
Click to expand...

Went through that a few times already. Just tested to see if I can setup Outlook from my home pc over my adsl line but no luck either, setting up a active sync connection on my Android phone does work though
 
grim said:
Which version of Outlook are you using?

Is the Exchange server up-to-date? Exchange 2013 CU 7 is the latest update
Click to expand...

I see it's still on Exchange 2013 SP1 (15.00.0847.032), no CU updates has been applied. Can one go straight to CU7? Or do I need to install the others first?
 
Hard coding the GC into the registry is definitely a work around and not a solution.

How many DCs do you have in the domain? Are all DCs GCs? Single forest domain? AD sites configured properly?
 
grim said:
Hard coding the GC into the registry is definitely a work around and not a solution.

How many DCs do you have in the domain? Are all DCs GCs? Single forest domain? AD sites configured properly?
Click to expand...

We have 5 DC's, all of then are GC's. All 2008R2.

Two DC's at main site where Exchange servers are located. Sites and Services also configured etc. Single forest domain.
 
irBosOtter said:
We have 5 DC's, all of then are GC's. All 2008R2.

Two DC's at main site where Exchange servers are located. Sites and Services also configured etc. Single forest domain.
Click to expand...

Is it an issue at all your sites or only specific ones?

Clients only using local DNS servers?
 
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