I have been tasked with making public folders work for our organization. The main issue I see is that Explicit folder permissions assigned via Outlook are not working. Specifically, Administrators can create top level public folders, users can't (desired), after assigning a specific user editor permission in a subfolder, the user can still not do anything but view that folder - cannot create a sub-sub folder (undesirable). The Exchange Shell is truly frightening!!!!!! (sorry but who thought that was a good solution as a management tool for us non-rocket scientists?) The public folder add-on for the Exchange administrator does not appear to allow for viewing or modification of permissions. Research seems to indicate that the solution is PFDAVADmin. Unfortunately, when I run this, while I can connect to mailboxes, attempting to connect to public folders gives the error: An error occured while trying to establish a connection to the Exchange server. Be sure that port 443 (for SSL) or port 80 (for non-SSL) can be reached. If you are connecting to public folders, be sure that the public store is mounted. If you are connecting to mailboxes and the progress bar shows a particular mailbox, be sure that user has at least one email address. Exception: Failed to connect using secure URL htts//Exchangeserver/ExAdmin/Admin/MAHHC.ORG/public%20folders/with error: The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error.. Failed to connect using unsecure URL http://Exchangeserver/ExAdmin/Admin/MAHHC.ORG/public%20folders/ with error: The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden.... I find this error all over the web, but I do not find any working solution. The public store is mounted. WebDav is enabled on the server. Ports 80 and 443 would seem to have to be open since OWA is working (and yes public folders are visible) - yet I cannot Telnet into those ports. I get this same error whether running PFDAVAdmin on the server or on my workstation and yes, my workstation has .Net 1.1 SP1. I was not involved in the setup of this server - was only told they have not been able to make these work since downloading a (n unspecified) tool to help working with public folders. I am hesitant to play around too much as the rest of the Exchange server (2007) is working correctly and I do not claim to be an expert. Any help would be appreciated !!!!!! Thanks muchly in advance, Andi

Has Exchange 2007 SP 2 been installed on the server?Also make sure you are using version 2.8 of PFDAVAdmin.

PFDAVAdmin 2.8 check Exchange SP2 not sure? Will have to find someone to ask. From within the management console, I do not see any mention of SPs (even though I see a that the install folder on the server is marked as SP1). About shows version as 08.01.0340.000 of Exchange server 2007. Also, while speaking to another member of the team, seems there is a possibility that the consultants that helped to set this up "may have messed with paths" (I would stress the "may have" here although when we looked in IIS and the default web site, the virtual directory for ExAdmin is empty (as are several other folders)). Since the PFDAVAdmin is referencing this folder in error message, could this be the problem? I see posts from others also indicating this folder is empty so maybe it's supposed to be? Properties on that and other folders indicate a path of: \\.\backofficestorage Needless to say a find on the server returns no directory with that name and none named ExAdmin... Grrrrr. Sorry. This used to seem pretty straight forward (or at least more so) in Exchange 2003. I'm feeling very lost here...... Thanks again, Andi

the folder is supposed to be empty...make sure the permissions for the user are correct.

I am trying to connect with a user account that is both an exchange administrator and an administrator on the local machine. I have confirmed that Administrators have full control access to the default web site. Am I missing anything?

How about giving full rights to a public folder to the Administrator account through the exchnage command shell, then using Outlook to modify the pf permissions as you need to....

Administrator account seems to have all of the permissions it needs to have(with the exception of being able to run PFDAVAdmin). As an administrator, I can create a top level public folder. The problem is that I want to be able to do this and assign specific users/groups permissions below this folder. Currently, I have assigned publishing editor permissions to a user for the folder that I created (above). None the less, when that user opens the folder and tries to create another folder within it, they are told that they do not have the permissions to do that. Apparently back in the day, a third party utility was run to adjust permissions and this is the result. There are also a great number of unidentified SIDS with permissions at the root of public folders in the site configuration. I am looking for a GUI tool that will allow me to see the actual permissions these folders currently have (because given the above, it would appear they are not what we think they are and something is blocking the ability to assign rights via Outlook). I find the shell scary and unuser friendly - I do not understand the rhyme or reason behind the syntax and have not even been able to successfully create a get public folder permissions statement using the documentation I have found so far. Since I do not see where you can view and/or change permissions from within the EMC and/or the public folder tool, I am currently stuck at this inability to run PFDAVAdmin. Perhaps there is another utility that would work????????

The workstation where you have installed PFDAVAdmin, does it have the Exchange tools (32bits) installed as well?And how about .NET 1.1?I don't have a problem using PFDAVAdmin from my workstation, I do have .NET 1.1 as well as Exchange 2007 management tools also installed.

yes and yes

You had consultants migrated your email system from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, correct?Do you have any way to ensure that Exchange 2003 was properly removed from AD and that the PF configuration was properly migrated to Exchange 2007?You will need to use ADSIEDIT in order to check. It sounds as though you may have some AD cleanup to do. Here are a few links that you may find usefuls while checking PF configuration in AD.http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;252105http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb288905.aspx

Actually, they did not migrate. It was installed as 2007. Originally just to use public folder calendars as we had alternate email system. Consultants configured the mail functionality this past summer. So, no legacy 2003. Again, I'm pretty sure the problem(s) stem from the third party utility that was run. I need to clean up permissions, but without being able to run PFDADVAdmin I cannot access them. I did finally get a command to run in the shell that was supposed to show me the permissions as they currently exist. Unfortunately all of the items in the return are truncated and therefore not very helpful (i.e. printed in columns in the command window that are cut off). Oh so frustrating.....

Try running the command using the "Power Shell GUI" from Quest, you can installed on your workstation and query Exchange.http://www.powergui.org/downloads.jspa

Hello All, I too do have the same issue. Below is the error which I am getting while connecting to PF of my organization. "an error occurred while trying to establish a connection to the exchange server. be sure that port 443 (for SSL) or port 80 (for NON-SSL) can be reached. If you are connecting to public folders, be sure that the public store is mounted." I am using the below configuration: 1. Using PFDAVAdmin version 2.8 2. Using the tool from C drive itself 3. Trying to connect from client having XP, 64bits, .NET 1,2 & 3.6 installed. 4. Telnet to the PF server via port 80 & 443 are both normal. 5. Tried from Server also, still got error. 6. used http://exchangeservername/public also to connect from client, but returned with same error. 7. Used DC & GC both of the same tree still got error. I went through various article for the same but still not got any satisfactory answer anywhere. Can anyone assist me with it? Thanks in advance.

Any suggestions/ work around for the above?