We are currently migrating from Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 9 to a fresh install of Exchange 2013 CU8 (installed directly from the CU). Mailbox moves are running smoothly and both Exchange version Mailboxes are accessible by clients during migrations.

However, under OWA 2013's People -> Directory (Address Lists), proper selection of the listed addresses failed.

1. Attempt to select an item under Directory will result in a multiple (Ctrl+Select) selection behaviour. Re-clicking the selected item will not unselect it.
2. The same issue is also exhibited when adding addresses (clicking + plus sign in the To or CC box) during Mail compose.
3. This behaviour only affects the Directory Address Lists; it does not affect selection behaviour of Personal Contacts items or any other Mailbox items such as Mails or Tasks.
4. We have tried IE 11.0.9600.17801, Firefox 27.0.2 and Chrome 42.0.2311.135 but the above issue persists.
5. Only affects Listings (all items) under Directory; when "Search People" results are displayed, selection behaviour is working.
6. Only affects OWA web interface; does not affect Microsoft Outlook or any other GAL behaviour.

During initial loading of the People page (All Rooms were selected onLoad), we noticed two XHR POST requests were made from the OWA to the FE:

1. /owa/service.svc?action=FindPeople&ID=-36&AC=1

This request received a 200 success response with the following JSON:

{"Header":{"ServerVersionInfo":{"MajorVersion":15,"MinorVersion":0,"MajorBuildNumber":1076,"MinorBuildNumber":9,"Version":"V2_22"}},"Body":{"ResponseCode":"NoError","ResponseClass":"Success","FirstLoadedRowIndex":0,"FirstMatchingRowIndex":0,"ResultSet":[{"PersonaId":{"Id":"AQUQAAAP"},"PersonaTypeString":"Unknown","CreationTimeString":"0001-01-02T08:00:00+08:00","DisplayName":"xxxx","DisplayNameFirstLast":"xxxx, BPTM","DisplayNameLastFirst":"xxxxx","FileAs":"","RelevanceScore":2147483647},{yyyy},{zzzz}],"TotalNumberOfPeopleInView":8}}

*xxxx, yyyy and zzzz are obfuscated items.

2. /owa/service.svc?action=GetPersona&ID=-37&AC=1

This request also received a 200 success response with the following JSON:

{"Header":{"ServerVersionInfo":{"MajorVersion":15,"MinorVersion":0,"MajorBuildNumber":1076,"MinorBuildNumber":9,"Version":"V2_22"}},"Body":{"MessageText":"Active Directory operation did not succeed. Try again later.","ResponseCode":"ErrorADOperation","ResponseClass":"Error","Persona":null}}

When the All Distribution Lists were selected, the following XHR POST were registered:

1. /owa/service.svc?action=GetGroupInfo&ID=-50&AC=1

This request received an error 500 response with the following JSON:

{"Body":{"ErrorCode":500,"ExceptionName":"NullReferenceException","FaultMessage":"Object reference not set to an instance of an object.","IsTransient":false,"StackTrace":"System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa2.Server.Core.ServiceCommands.GetGroupCommand.GetPDLData()\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Wcf.ServiceCommand`1.DetectDuplicatedCallOrExecute()\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Wcf.ServiceCommand`1.Execute()\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa2.Server.Core.OWAService.GetGroupInfo(GetGroupInfoRequest getGroupInfoRequest)\u000d\u000a   at SyncInvokeGetGroupInfo(Object , Object[] , Object[] )\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.SyncMethodInvoker.Invoke(Object instance, Object[] inputs, Object[]& outputs)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DispatchOperationRuntime.InvokeBegin(MessageRpc& rpc)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage5(MessageRpc& rpc)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage31(MessageRpc& rpc)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.MessageRpc.Process(Boolean isOperationContextSet)"}}

2. /owa/service.svc?action=GetGroupInfo&ID=-51&AC=1

This request also received an error 500 response with the following JSON:

{"Body":{"ErrorCode":500,"ExceptionName":"NullReferenceException","FaultMessage":"Object reference not set to an instance of an object.","IsTransient":false,"StackTrace":"System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa2.Server.Core.ServiceCommands.GetGroupCommand.GetPDLData()\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Wcf.ServiceCommand`1.DetectDuplicatedCallOrExecute()\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Services.Wcf.ServiceCommand`1.Execute()\u000d\u000a   at Microsoft.Exchange.Clients.Owa2.Server.Core.OWAService.GetGroupInfo(GetGroupInfoRequest getGroupInfoRequest)\u000d\u000a   at SyncInvokeGetGroupInfo(Object , Object[] , Object[] )\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.SyncMethodInvoker.Invoke(Object instance, Object[] inputs, Object[]& outputs)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DispatchOperationRuntime.InvokeBegin(MessageRpc& rpc)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage5(MessageRpc& rpc)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage31(MessageRpc& rpc)\u000d\u000a   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.MessageRpc.Process(Boolean isOperationContextSet)"}}

Help !!! :(

OWA with the above problem..

Normal OWA behavior (from older CU installation),,

• Edited by Shazrin Thursday, May 14, 2015 5:03 AM Added image descriptions

Hi Chris.

Unfortunately we are still experienceing the problem with no resolution in sight :(

We have deployed an additional CU7 CAS and Mailbox (with a Mailbox and Database on the CU7).

We have tested exclusively via CAS CU7 with the Mailbox on CU7 and the issue is *still* there; thus this issue most probably is not related to CU8.

Could AD version be an issue? Accsessible by our Exchange Servers are only Windows 2008 (RTM) Domain Controllers.

Possible Schema extension issue by CU8 setup (Exchange 2013 in the Organization were installed fresh from CU8) ?

What is the AD version accessible by your Exchange Servers ?

Hi Chris.

Unfortunately we are still experiencing the problem with no resolution in sight :(

We have deployed an additional CU7 CAS and Mailbox (with a Mailbox and Database on the CU7).

We have tested exclusively via CAS CU7 with the Mailbox on CU7 and the issue is *still* there; thus this issue most probably is not related to CU8.

Could AD version be an issue? Accsessible by our Exchange Servers are only Windows 2008 (RTM) Domain Controllers.

Possible Schema extension issue by CU8 setup (Exchange 2013 in the Organization were installed fresh from CU8) ?

What is the AD version accessible by your Exchange Servers ?

• Edited by Shazrin Saturday, May 30, 2015 10:59 AM Spelling

Finally  we got our issue resolved.

Solution: We upgraded the GCs accessed by the Exchange servers from Windows Server 2008 RTM to Windows Server 2012 RTM (we don't have the license for R2). Once the GCs were upgraded, the Address Lists were displayed correctly by our OWA 2013 CU8.

Not sure whether it was due to corrupted GCs (quite unlikely as we have 2 GCs at the Site with dcdiag & repadmin not throwing any fit) or the GC's OS version...

Anyway issue resolved & users are happy.

• Marked as answer by Shazrin 17 hours 4 minutes ago