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Q125255: PC Win: How Users Are Validated Against MMF Files

Article: Q125255
Product(s): Microsoft Mail For PC Networks
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,3.2,3.2a
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 29-OCT-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Mail for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 3.2, 3.2a 
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SUMMARY
=======

In versions 3.0, 3.0b, 3.2, and 3.2a of Microsoft Mail for Windows, users logged
on to the mail system are validated for access to the postoffice, as well as to
their message file (.MMF). Changes recorded in a user's account on a postoffice
will not be propagated into the .MMF until the next time the user logs into
Mail.

MORE INFORMATION
================

When you log into the postoffice, the mailbox name and password are used as the
credentials to validate you with the postoffice. If the information does not
match the values stored on the postoffice, the following error will be
returned:

  The mailbox name or password is incorrect.

Once you have been validated by the postoffice, the Mail client then uses the
your Hex ID value, retrieved from the access files in conjunction with the
password, to validate you against the MMF.

If both your Hex ID and password match, the your .MMF is opened and you log in
normally.

If either one of the two values does not match, the errant value will be updated
to match the record the postoffice contains for this value. Two common examples
of this are resetting the password and moving an account to a different
postoffice with MoveUser.

In the case of a password reset, the password stored in the access files is
changed by the Administrator. Then, when you log into the Windows client for the
first time after the reset, the password field in the MMF will be different from
the password in the access files. The Mail client will then update the MMF's
password field to match that of the postoffice.

In the case of MoveUser, your account is created on the new postoffice with a new
Hex ID. When you log into the Windows client on the new postoffice the first
time, the password will match, but the Hex ID will not. The Mail client will
then update the Hex ID within the MMF.

If neither the Hex ID nor the password matches, the Mail client will return the
following error:

  This account is not a valid user of this message file.

This can happen when an Administrator resets a user's password and moves that
user with MoveUser without allowing the user to sign on between the reset and
move. Since the MMF will have the old Hex ID and password, the user will get the
above error message.

Additional query words: 3.00 3.00b 3.20 3.20a

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMailSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbMail300 kbMail320 kbMail300b kbMail320a
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,3.2,3.2a

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