Troubleshooter: Creating MAPI Profiles Without Outlook

Can I install Outlook on my Exchange server?

Many administrators have successfully installed various flavors of Outlook on their Exchange servers; many, alas, have not. Like crossing against the traffic light, getting away with a tricky maneuver once is no guarantee of future success. Microsoft officially recommends not installing Outlook on servers running any of the Microsoft BackOffice Server products. However, from time to time you might find that you need to set up or modify Messaging API (MAPI) profiles on your Exchange box because several third-party products use profiles to log on.

Instead of installing Outlook to create these profiles, use the Newprof tool from the Outlook CD-ROM. Two Microsoft articles describe how the tool works: "XCLN: Newprof.exe Command-Line Options" (http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?id=kb;en-us;q145905) and "XCLN: Description of the Profile Descriptor File" (http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?id=kb;en-us;q148664). If you're comfortable with simple programming, the Microsoft article "HOWTO: Create MAPI Profiles Without Installing Outlook" (http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?id=kb;en-us;q306962) includes code that will do what you want. The long-term solution, though, is for vendors to stop using MAPI for access to stored items; this trend is already evident in the antivirus software market. In the meantime, a good solution would be for MAPI-enabled software to include installers that are smart enough to use the techniques in the last Microsoft article I mentioned to create a new profile at installation time.