Symptom

When sending a meeting request in an environment that uses Microsoft Outlook with Exchange to a sent or when the accept or deny it a bounce is returned to the person who sent the meeting request. The option in Outlook that allows other users to receive meeting requests and accpet/reject them on another user's behalf is called delegates. This delgates option in Outlook is either ghosted - suggesting that no delegates actually exist.

Cause

The back-end of delgates is setup through a hidden server-side rule in Outlook. As this is not monitored by Active Directory if the user that was a delgate leaves the company and is subsequently deleted the rule will still exist but not be picked up by the Outlook interface - the area appears ghosted. However the rule in the back-end still exists and meeting requested are still forwarded resulting in a 5.1.1 Non-Delivery Report / Bounce being received by the user who sent the request - this is known as an orphaned delegate.

Resolution

  1. Open up delgates by going to Tools > Options menu and clicking on the Delegates tab.
  2. Click add and add any user at all to be a delegate - I would recommend of course that this if you are in IT Support and fixing this for another user. This is only temporary and will allow a required option to become un-ghosted.
  3. Click OK back to the main Outlook window and restart Outlook. Ensure that the process is not running in the background before it is reatarted. To do this:
    1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and click on Task Manager. Task Managert may appear automatically after pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del depending on your setup.
    2. Look for OUTLOOK.EXE; if it is present highlight it and click End Process.
  4. When restarting Outlook go back to the delegates window and uncheck Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegates, not to me.
  5. The delegate that was added can now be removed.
  6. Click OK back to the main window and restarted Outlook again and test.
  7. If the issue still remains the entry will need to be manually deleted using the message store utility viewer MDBVU32.exe that is on the Exchange CD.

Deleting manually using mdbvu32

Performing these steps incorrectly can cause serious damage to your Exchange server.
  1. Ensure that Outlook is not running on any machine for the user who has the orphaned delegate.
  2. Start the Mdbvu32.exe utility, and then click OK in the first dialog box, to log on.
  3. Go to the MDB > OpenMessageStore menu
  4. Click the relevant mailbox, and then click Open to start the store.
  5. Go to the MDB > Open Root Folder menu
  6. Double-click Top of Information Store in the Child Folders area.
  7. Double-click Inbox in the Child Folders area to view the properties of the Inbox folder.
  8. Locate the Associated Message in FLD: pane of the MAPI_FOLDER-Inbox window. Notice the items that start with *pb EF 00 00 00 19 82 62. Each of these is a rule that is set up on the Inbox. The user can set up some of the rules. Other rules are for things like using the Out of Office Assistant or forwarding meeting responses to a delegate.
  9. Double-click each of the rules in turn, to open the rule and examine the rule to determine which rule is the delegate rule. Check the Message Property 0x65EB. The delegate rule should have the Schedule + EMS Interface for this property.
  10. When you find the corresponding rule, check the message property 0x65EF, which is a long, double-byte string of characters. If the string starts with 02, the rule states, "Send meeting requests and responses only to my delegates, not to me." If the string starts with 01, the rule states, "Delegate receives copies of meeting-related messages sent to me." If either of these options is set in Outlook, and there is no message or rule under Associated Message in FLD:, the rule no longer exists, which explains why the requests and responses are not being forwarded. You can also delete the delegate rule from here.
  11. After you identify the delegate rule, select the rule in the Associated Message in FLD: pane of the MAPI_FOLDER-Inbox window.
  12. In the Operations available box, click lpFld->DeleteMessages(), and then click Call Function.
  13. When the MAPI_FOLDER-Inbox->DeleteMessages() window appears, click OK to delete the message.
  14. Quit Mdbvu32.exe by closing all windows until you return to the MDB Viewer Test Application window.
  15. Go to MDB > Store Logoff.
  16. Click OK in the LOGOFF_COMPLETE window.
  17. Close the MDB Viewer Test Application window.

See Also

Non-Delivery Report (NDR) / Bounce Codes (Email)
Meeting request to user produces bounce message from a deleted user (Experts-Exchange)
Delegates issues
Granting delegate access to email

Category:Exchange Category:Outlook