Exchange

When performing a cumulative update on Exchange 2013 I ran into an issue where the finalization step was hanging as 45%.

When I checked the Exchange Setup logs I saw the following repeated over and over.

Service  'MSExchangePOP3BE' failed to reach status 'Running'  on this server after waiting for '25000' milliseconds.
[WARNING] Service checkpoint has not progressed. Previous checkpoint='0'- Current checkpoint='0'.
Previous service status query time is '7/5/2018 1:35:37 AM'.
Current service status query time is '7/5/2018 1:36:02 AM'.
Will wait '25000' milliseconds for the service 'MSExchangePOP3BE' to reach status 'Running'.

In this instance, the Exchange setup was unable to start the POP3 backend service. Attempting to start the service manually through the Services MMC also failed. Upon checking the System Event Log the following error was reported.

The address is already in use. Binding: 0.0.0.0:9955.

This error indicates something else was already listening on port 9955, which was preventing the POP3 backend service from starting (and setup from completing).

While upgrading an Exchange 2013 server to the latest cumulative update, I ran into the following error while setup was configuring prerequisites.

Service 'WMSVC' failed to reach status 'Running' on this server.

When attempting to start the service manually via the Services MMC, it refused to start, resulting in the following error.

Windows could not start the Web Management Service on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code -217483640.

When reviewing the System Event Log an equally cryptic error was displayed.

The Web Management Service service terminated with the following service-specific error: Unspecified error

When migrating mailboxes between Exchange versions using the Exchange Admin Center you may receive the error:

Nullable object must have a value.

This error will appear when you navigate to the Recipient > Migration tab and click View Details on a migration batch. In the screenshot below we are examining a migration batch named “Test Migration to Exchange 2016” which contains two users. We are attempting to move these two users from Exchange 2013 to Exchange 2016.

From this screenshot, you will notice the Status column reports both users as successfully migrated. However, the Data Migrated and Migration Rate attributes in the right-hand pane are missing values. For an executed migration batch these attributes should contain metrics.

When upgrading to Exchange 2016 you may receive the errors, “There was a problem loading your options” & “Exchange Server doesn’t support the requested version”.

Both of these errors are centered around the add-ins feature.

What are add-ins?

First introduced in Exchange 2013, add-ins are apps that you can globally distribute to all your Outlook clients, whether they be the full Outlook client, Outlook Web App, or, Outlook for iOS and Android.

Add-ins include features such as Bing Maps, which will identify an address in an email and automatically load a web-part displaying a map. Or, simply the ability to identify action items within an email.

Exchange ships with a few add-ins out of the box. Additional add-ins can be downloaded through the Microsoft store or uploaded via a custom XML file.

The real beauty of an add-in is that you can centrally manage it via the Exchange Admin Center. Much easier than deploying Outlook add-ins with traditional endpoint management software. Plus it ensures everyone is always using the latest version of an app.

There was a problem loading your options (“add-ins”)

While in coexistence with an older version of Exchange your users may receive the error “There was a problem loading your options”. They receive this error when trying to manage their add-ins via Outlook Web App. This error prevents users from seeing or managing their add-ins.