On May 29, 2012, the Exchange Customer Experience Team (CXP) released Roll-up Update 3 (RU3) for Exchange 2010 SP2. RU3 comes some six weeks after its RU2 predecessor (April 16) and as always among the 42 individual fixes, this update contains an eclectic mixture of ho-hum and important fixes. My personal pick from this batch is KB2572029 because it fixes part of an irritating (but reasonably unimportant) synchronization issue that I recently discussed on WindowsITPro.com. Note that this fix doesn’t address all of the issues with the generation and retention of synchronization logs, but it is a start.
For the record, SP2 RU3 does not require any Active Directory schema update. Like every RU, once you install SP2 RU3 on your servers, you’ll be running the latest and greatest version of Exchange 2010, including having the ability to take advantage of some new cross-site capabilities that were originally scheduled to be in Exchange 2010 SP1 but were removed very late in the development cycle (I actually had included a description of the functionality in Exchange Server 2010 Inside Out
I imagine that some companies will struggle to deploy a new RU every six weeks or so. The normal public health warning applies in that you should always test an RU by installing it within an environment that duplicates your production systems just in case Microsoft’s extensive suite of automated tests has allowed a small bug to creep in that only affects your servers. It would be a pity to have to own up to management that you had deployed software without adequate testing so don’t depend on Microsoft to do the job for you.
Here’s my assessment of the bugs that are fixed in RU3 sorted in my own arbitrary fashion. Some of the individual KBs were unavailable as I write this post and might well be available when you read it (Microsoft follows its own processes to make content available online and one group might post information referencing another piece of data that hasn’t yet been cleared for publication). Please feel free to disagree with my description of the bug and attribute your own importance to each. After all, one man’s terribly interesting and worthwhile bug fix is someone else’s totally worthless update. It all depends on whether you’ve been affected by the bug in question.
Have fun!
– Tony
Exchange 2010 SP2 RU3 bug fixes
| KB Number and Title | Comments |
| System Administration Fixes | |
| 2510607 “Cannot open the free/busy information” error message when you try to view folder permissions in Outlook | Fixes a bug with the Set-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet that doesn’t set permissions on a folder correctly. |
| 2514700 Extra.exe does not trace a single user whose legacyExchangeDN attribute contains one or more special characters in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Extra.exe is otherwise known as the Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant. In some scenarios, it fails to trace a specific user correctly because it assumes that any special characters in the legacyExchangeDN attribute are separators and so ends up with what seem to be references to multiple users, which then leads to traces for all users rather than being able to filter on just one. |
| 2589233 Meeting requests bypass the requirement for delegate approval and instead book resource mailboxes automatically in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Fixes a bug where Exchange’s Calendar Meeting attendant process fails to observe meeting policies that are created for rooms. In other words, someone can book a room when they shouldn’t be allowed. |
| 2633043 “There were no writeable domain controllers found in Active Directory site” error message when you run the ExBPA tool in an Exchange Server 2010 organization | ExBPA uses an incorrect query to locate writeable domain controllers and so complains bitterly that it can’t get what it wants. It’s a happy puppy now. |
| 2668900 Event ID 2915 is logged when you apply a fallback policy to a service account in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Fixes a problem with throttling policies that surfaces particularly with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Given the ever-reducing number of BB users, this might not be quite such an issue soon. |
| 2673542 MRM retention policy in the Junk E-Mail folder does not work when you manually move email messages in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | If you discover some spam and move those items to the Junk Mail, the Managed Folder Assistant won’t apply the retention policy to those items and they will probably linger on until removed manually – or you apply SP2 RU3. |
| 2674445 You cannot change the access permissions of a Calendar folder in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | The KB description seems to place the blame for this bug on third-party applications that play with access permissions on calendar folders. If you do this, and then move the mailbox containing the updated calendars, bad things happen. |
| 2677872 You cannot use a distribution group in the hierarchical address book when you create the group in Exchange Server 2003 | Basically any group created using Exchange 2003 can’t feature in a HAB because the version number is incorrect. |
| 2682047 You cannot access a mailbox for several hours after you disconnect and then reconnect the mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 SP2 environment | The DSAccess cache is not updated with details of the newly reconnected mailbox so users aren’t able to access it with Outlook or OWA. The cache is now updated when mailboxes are reconnected. |
| 2698927 Resource mailbox that has AutoAccept configured does not process a meeting request that contains custom code or script in Exchange Server 2010 | The Resource Booking Assistant doesn’t care very much for calendar meeting requests that contain custom code or scripts so it basically ignores these items. |
| 2698976 Managed Folder Assistant does not process a mailbox that has external contacts in another tenant organization in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | The problem only happens when Exchange is deployed in hosting mode. This won’t happen in the future as Microsoft has decommitted from the feature, so we don’t really have to worry too much here. |
| 2700544 Multiple recovery items are added to a subfolder of the Recoverable Items folder in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | The Store creates unnecessary (and unwanted) versions of items in the Recoverable Items folder and can therefore exceed the Recoverable Items cache. |
| 2705555 The Set-Mailbox cmdlet takes a long time to complete configuration in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | It takes far too long for configuration changes to occur when the database holding the mailboxes is offline. The root cause is a time out that occurs for each mailbox. |
| 2706523 You cannot create a mailbox or mail-enable a mailbox for a disabled user account in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Exchange is being just a tad careful by preventing administrators creating mailboxes for disabled accounts. |
| Public folder fixes | |
| 2571342 The Folder contacts list is empty when a user views the properties of a mail-enabled public folder in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | The Microsoft Exchange Address Book service doesn’t use the PF Contacts attribute to present contact information when users view properties of mail-enabled public folders. It does now. |
| 2647396 You cannot disable a public folder by using the “Disable-MailPublicFolder” cmdlet in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Fixes a bug that occurs when public folders are mail-enabled in one domain and an attempt is then made to disable them in another domain. The Store doesn’t quite get it right when it attempts to convince Active Directory that this is the right thing to do. Everything is now aligned. |
| 2682895 Error message when a role assignee runs the Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics cmdlet in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | In certain situations, RBAC interprets the scope for the Mailbox Import Export role incorrectly and prevents users running the Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics cmdlet. |
| Outlook-related fixes | |
| 2572029 Synchronization of an organizational forms library fails when you use Outlook in Cached mode in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | This is quite an important fix because it stops synchronization logs accumulating in Outlook’s Sync Issues folder and addresses a problem that has been around for quite a while. See this blog post for more information. |
| 2670099 You cannot open calendar folders that are shared by hidden users in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Fixes a problem where Exchange didn’t filter hidden users correctly in address lists which meant that Outlook couldn’t open the calendar folders of hidden users, even if the right folder permissions etc. were in place. |
| 2674185 MAPI_E_CALL_FAILED errors occur when a MAPI application that uses the MAPI function in Outlook 2007 MAPI or in Outlook 2010 tries to access an Exchange Server 2010 server | Outlook 2007 or 2010 clients running in online mode can force a MAPI failure when they connect to Exchange. It’s a bug. What more can one say? |
| 2684583 You cannot delete an empty folder in a .pst file by using Outlook in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | KB not available online. However, the title makes the fix seem pretty straightforward. |
| 2699577 GAL-related client-only message rule is not applied in Outlook after you apply RU1 for Exchange Server 2010 SP2 in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | KB not available online. Looks as if Exchange 2010 SP2 RU1 might have introduced a bug that prevented Outlook applying a rule that depends on the GAL (for example, messages sent to a distribution group). |
| 2699582 Error message when you play a voice mail by using Outlook 2007 in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | KB not available online. |
| Transport fixes | |
| 2586828 The EdgeTransport.exe process consumes 100 percent of CPU resources on an Exchange Server 2010 Edge Transport server | Looks as if this fixes a bug where the transport system process can basically take over the CPU because of threads clashing when attempting to read configuration data. |
| 2648263 You cannot open routing log files on Exchange Server 2010 Hub Transport servers in a mixed Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2010 environment | Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2003 don’t quite see eye-to-eye when the time comes for Exchange 2010 to track message routing logs back across a bridgehead server. |
| Client Access Server (CAS) fixes | |
| 2667120 MSExchangeAutodiscoverAppPool application pool crashes on an Exchange Server 2010 Client Access server when you try to view the free/busy information about a user in a trusted domain | Exchange 2010 CAS servers don’t like accepted domains with “*”. This causes them problems (headaches) when clients attempt to fetch free/busy information. A headache pill has now been consumed. |
| 2671128 RPC Client Access Cross-Site connectivity issues occur in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Some problems occur for Outlook clients as they reconnect after mailboxes are moved between datacenters or when a cross-datacenter failure event occurs. In both situations, Outlook doesn’t know where to locate a mailbox because it should really be listening more attentively to AutoDiscover. It is now. This is the fix that should have appeared in Exchange 2010 SP1 but was removed at the last minute. |
| 2673591 Crash occurs in the Autodiscover application pool in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Autodiscover crashes after an authentication failure, perhaps because the problem handler wasn’t quite there. An improved version is now available. |
| 2681250 “550 5.6.0” NDR when a journal report is sent to an external contact in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | Fixes a problem when journaling messages are forwarded by Outlook to an external contact. |
| Exchange Web Services (EWS) fixes | |
| 2689810 A meeting request that you send from an EWS application is in plain text format instead of HTML format when an attendee opens the request by using Outlook in online mode | EWS sends in HTML but Exchange disagrees and displays plain text when Outlook opens the meeting request (in online mode). |
| Mailbox Replication Service (MRS) fixes | |
| 2695011 Junk Email settings do not work as expected after you migrate or move a mailbox to an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Mailbox server | MRS doesn’t carry over Junk Mail settings when mailboxes are moved from database to database. |
| 2695836 You cannot move a mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment that has a message size limit configured | MRS uses Exchange’s maximum message size value in various places (such as importing items from PST). In this case, you’re moving mailboxes with BadItem limit set to zero and MRS encounters a message that is over the maximum size, so it bails. Not a good thing to do, but it’s better now. |
| 2698960 You cannot move some users’ mailboxes from one Exchange Server 2010 mailbox database to another | For some reason, some mailboxes do not have a replication identifier attribute. When MRS meets these mailboxes it cannot move them. Hence the problem and hence the fix. |
| Outlook Web App (OWA) fixes | |
| 2695022 The E-mail Signature text box is not editable in Outlook Web App when you use Google Chrome in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | For some reason, OWA disables its rich text editor box for the email signature text box when Chrome is used as the browser. |
| 2696642 An additional line of space is added in each paragraph in an email message when you click the Printable View icon in Outlook Web App in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | OWA simply doesn’t do a good job of formatting text when it presents a “printable view” of messages. What’s surprising is that the bug is only just being fixed now. Maybe people don’t bother using the view printable view option much. |
| 2705570 An error occurs when a user whose mailbox is hidden from the Exchange address list tries to open the Scheduling Assistant tab by using the light version of Outlook Web App | The LDAP lookups generated by the light version of OWA don’t quite work the way that they should… |
| 2705647 A user cannot log on to a mailbox that is full by using Outlook Web App in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | KB not available online. The wording of the title makes you believe that OWA blocks log-ons to mailboxes whose quotas have been exceeded. |
| 2705682 Post-reform spelling rules are not used in the Portuguese (Portugal) dictionary in Outlook Web App in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | The joys of internationalization. OWA doesn’t comply with the 2012 requirements of the Portuguese government about how to spell words. |
| Miscellaneous fixes | |
| 2682408 AddOrganizerToSubject parameter does not take effect when a recurring meeting conflicts with another meeting in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | KB is not available online. My interpretation of the problem is that Exchange doesn’t correctly update the conflict notices sent out when recurring meetings create clashes. |
| 2699023 Event ID 9646 is logged on the Exchange Server 2010 mailbox server when you access a mailbox that has more than 250 folders by using an IMAP4 client | KB not available online. Looks like some IMAP4 users have created lots of folders in their mailboxes and have encountered some problems when they try and access the mailboxes. |
| 2705425 UMWorkerProcess.exe consumes large amounts of memory when you try to listen to voice messages by using Outlook Voice Access in an Exchange Server 2010 environment | A logic error causes the process that processes voice mail messages to access voicemail incorrectly and consume too much memory. |
| 2708880 You cannot set the “Country/region” attribute of a user mailbox to “Curaçao,” “Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba,” or “Sint Maarten (Dutch part)” by using the Exchange Management Console on an Exchange Server 2010 server | More internationalization woes. |
Thoughtsofanidlemind's Blog 
Enjoyed reading the issues & fixes 🙂
That’s a clear explanation…
It makes me smile when I see comments like “test this in an environment which duplicates your production environment” as though we all have unlimited time and resource to do this!! In the “real” world of SMB/SME we have to “patch and pray” as we don’t have the luxury of being able to test “fully” !
Good article though 🙂
Hi Paul,
I absolutely understand where you are coming from. I guess my attitude comes from working so long with enterprise deployments…
TR
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