SMTP will not connect

I just got WIN2003 SBS and I cannot get exchange to be a real email server.

No matter what I do, it always rejects my username and password. I'm trying
to use Outlook express over the internet to connect to my email server. I
have set up the pop3 accounts with passwords, but exchange will not accept
external logins.

I have tried with secured password authentication (SPA) and without SPA,
nothing helps. Here are the black holes of Microsoft Exchange that I don't
understand that might be related to this problem.

1. group policies

I get loads of these in my event logs:
---
Windows cannot query for the list of Group Policy objects. Check the event
log for possible messages previously logged by the policy engine that
describes the reason for this.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
---
if I click the help link it gets me to a help page that says:

"At the command prompt, type netdiag, and note any errors. Those
errors usually have to be resolved before Group Policy processing can
continue."

typing "netdiag" gives

"'netdiag' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file."

2. Message Store
I have no idea what this is, or how it might be configured or
misconfigured

3. Firewall
I got Outlook Express to connect once running on the mail server itself,
which tells me it might be a MS firewall issue. However, there is no
"Firewall" app to open/configure/disable, so I have no clue how to check it.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Spam attack from within, please help!!!
    ... queue, I deleted all, applied SP2 ... I've heard of a product from Symantec that sits on top of an exchange server ... additional SMTP vs instead, set only anonymous authentication and do not ... Adaware on my email server and both reported clean results. ...
    (microsoft.public.exchange.connectivity)
  • RE: Not receiving some inbound emails
    ... You have a mail firewall that has blacklisted those domains. ... have a mail filter i would say check that. ... It would help if your email server can allow you to view ... Exchange uses it as a smart host, ...
    (microsoft.public.exchange.connectivity)
  • Re: Connection to MS Exchange Unavailable
    ... my problem also expands to the lack of Group Policy extending to ... I know that the SBS server can't configure Outlook ... "Connection to Microsoft Exchange server is Unavailable. ... Click Services tab and select Hide All Microsoft Services and Disable ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: 2000 Server users and security groups and group policies!
    ... organizing them the way you had in the Australia ... and Exchange is a headache in and of itself as I am not expertly ... > without a lot of fiddling around with Group Policy Permissions. ... Security groups can also be used ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)
  • SBS 2003 hangs - no response
    ... Exchange, due to total freeze/non-responsiveness. ... When the server boots up, ... find entries like this in the event log: ... cannot query for the list of Group Policy objects. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)