Forum Discussion
[Server Buld 20303.1] IIS 6 Manager crashes trying to edit SMTP Virtual Server Properties
I have installed 20303.1 and added the SMTP Service and add the management tools.
Install-WindowsFeature SMTP-Server -IncludeManagementTools
After the installation, I bring up the IIS 6 Management Console.
If I right-click the [SMTP Virtual Server] node and select properties, I get an error like this:
Clues?
- We found that doing the following worked, and can now edit the settings in the II6 Manager without errors (and without crashing when applying settings) every time:
Stop SMTPSVC service [Display Name: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)]
Stop IISADMIN service [Display name: IIS Admin Service]
Edit "C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MetaBase.xml"
Find: <IIsSmtpServer Location ="/LM/SmtpSvc/1"
Add (Settings are alphabetical): RelayIpList=""
Save file
Start IISAdmin Service
Start SMTPSVC service
You can now open the Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager (InetMgr6.exe) and work like normal. The setting above relates to the Access Tab > Relay Restrictions section, but doesn't set anything in it (i.e. "all except the below list" with a blank list).
After setting this value you can change it to what you need it to be. (i.e. the value doesn't need to be 'null' for the fix to work, just so long as the variable is present in the file).
The above has been tested on a few new installs of Windows Server 2022, and has worked for us every time. If you have done an upgrade there are some other things to consider (seems like the SMTP service is not installed after upgrade so will require a backup of the settings that can be applied post reinstalling the service. But that is discussed in other topics).
PS: Remember to set the SMTPSVC service to start "automatically". By default its set to "manual".
Source: https://serverfault.com/questions/1088555/server-2022-smtp-server-issue
- We found that doing the following worked, and can now edit the settings in the II6 Manager without errors (and without crashing when applying settings) every time:
Stop SMTPSVC service [Display Name: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)]
Stop IISADMIN service [Display name: IIS Admin Service]
Edit "C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MetaBase.xml"
Find: <IIsSmtpServer Location ="/LM/SmtpSvc/1"
Add (Settings are alphabetical): RelayIpList=""
Save file
Start IISAdmin Service
Start SMTPSVC service
You can now open the Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Manager (InetMgr6.exe) and work like normal. The setting above relates to the Access Tab > Relay Restrictions section, but doesn't set anything in it (i.e. "all except the below list" with a blank list).
After setting this value you can change it to what you need it to be. (i.e. the value doesn't need to be 'null' for the fix to work, just so long as the variable is present in the file).
The above has been tested on a few new installs of Windows Server 2022, and has worked for us every time. If you have done an upgrade there are some other things to consider (seems like the SMTP service is not installed after upgrade so will require a backup of the settings that can be applied post reinstalling the service. But that is discussed in other topics).
PS: Remember to set the SMTPSVC service to start "automatically". By default its set to "manual".
Source: https://serverfault.com/questions/1088555/server-2022-smtp-server-issueThis worked perfectly. Thank you. We are deploying a second NewForma Project Center Server to split our compute load and got hit with this.
- Perfect - thanks for sharing!
Hey David, thanks a lot for the solution provided. Unfortunately I did tried this on our 2022 server it is still giving me an error when trying to edit the SMTP virtual server on the IIS 6.0 console.
- Some of the above posts helped point me in the right direction but I couldnt get it working using their exact methods as of today 12th June 2023.
What worked for me was:
Use a working IIS server (prior to Windows Server 2022) as source server
Configure as needed
Use the GUI IIS Backup Configuration tool (note this also backs up websites)
**make sure you set it as encrypted or you will get an Invalid Signature on restore in next step
On the source server locate this new backup in:
C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MetaBack
-- there will be x2 files ending in .MD0 and .SC0
Stop IIS on the source server (or you may get access denied when copying)
Copy both the files in the source server C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\MetaBack
To your destination IIS server, same path
Go to IIS on your new \ destination server.
use the GUI to restore- you will see the backup you just copied in
Click to restore - enter your previous password for encryption
At the end you should get Operation Successful
You can then configure SMTP as needed and make additional changes without getting the snap-in failure message
Hope that helps anyone 🙂
- Hi,
What I did to get it to work in WS2022 was install & configure the SMTP Virtual server on a WS2019 instance (decommission that instance once done).
Once SMTP was configured and tested, backup the configuration on the WS2019 server (as mentioned here: https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2021/11/25/iis-6-0-smtp-service-in-place-upgrade-to-windows-server-2022/). The rest of the process is actually almost the same:
I then installed SMTP Virtual Server on my WS2022 instance and copied over the backup files from the WS2019 machine (the backup is stored in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\Backups\).
The files you will have in the backup are as follows:
-administration.config
-applicationHost.config
-MBSchema.xml
-MetaBase.xml
-redirection.config
I Stopped IIS in WS2022 and replaced all the original files on my WS2022 machine with the ones in the WS2019; all BUT the MetaBase.xml one. I cannot guarantee that replacing these files will also work for you, but it did work for me - and I did do a text compare between the existing config files beforehand (which showed they were identical).
I then used the text compare tool for the last file and added in all the missing rows from the WS2019 MetaBase.xml. Make sure to take a copy of the WS2022 one, and to not replace any Security IP or ACL owner configuration and not delete the extra stuff if not 100% sure!
After this I restarted the IIS and SMTP services and tested. Most of the SMTP configuration I needed was already in there, as I did configure the WS2019 before backing up those settings, so I only needed to make small manual changes.
I tested and everything works. This takes a bit of comparing + hit & miss tries but hopefully it will help someone else as well.
Cheers 
KevinShaughnessyMicrosoft
Hello, the SMTP stack and management tools have been deprecated since Windows Server 2012 and will soon be removed from Windows Server 2022. Please refer to this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/hh831568(v=ws.11)
SMTP and the associated management tools are deprecated. Though the functionality is still available in Windows Server 2012, you should begin using System.Net.Smtp.
Kevin Shaughnessy
Sr. Program Manager
Microsoft Exchange Transport- Hello Kevin, could you please check with the server docs team, they should include this warning on this page please. Hi @406979
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/removed-deprecated-features-windows-server-2022
The 2012/2012R2 could be referenced but they are not much visible in the ToC,- EldenChristensen
Clarification, SMTP was 'Deprecated' in Windows Server 2012:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/hh831568(v=ws.11)#smtp
SMTP is included all the way up through (including) Windows Server 2022.However SMTP has been 'Removed' for the next release of Windows Server, and you will see this change has been made that SMTP is no longer available in the current Windows Server Insider preview builds.
Thanks!
Elden
SharePoint Server 2019 and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition are supported for Windows Server 2022 and SharePoint required SMTP Service to receive e-mails.
If the SMTP service is removed then the information for SharePoint 2019 and SE is not correct.
- This is a terrible move! A lot of us still utilize this feature heavily, if anything, it should be updated. Everything can't be pointed to 365, this will force customers to evaluate 3rd party smtp software now.
Maverickx AGREE! That SMTP server is a useful utility that we use heavily. Rolling back to 2019 ASAP.
Microsoft: At least consider open sourcing this. We use it as our core SMTP engine and we do not want or need to get a new service or app. 365 and Azure are not alternatives for self-hosted SMTP.
