Hi Samuel, Technet has one official support forum for Exchange 2010. Please ask there. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/exchange2010 Thanks Zhang

Hello, I am having an issue with Microsoft Exchange 2010 services which are not automatically starting on startup. I have: 1x Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 - Running as a domain controller1x Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 - Running as a client of the domain, with Microsoft Exchange 2010 installed. Everything works perfectly - except various services do not startup automatically. All I have to do is manually start them and everything works fine, but I would like them to start automatically. The systems are both virtualised, running under a VMware ESxi server with appropriate system resources. I have changed the startup from Automatic to Automatic (Delayed) incase of any dependencies on network adaptors, domain connections etc. Services on the Exchange server: Here you can see 1 hour after a reboot that the various services have not automatically started. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Samuel

Update I have found on startup the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service hangs with "Starting...". By right-clicking the service and clicking on Start, I am presented with an error "The Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs" then all of the other MS Exchange services started automatically. The event viewer error points me towards http://support.microsoft.com/kb/252137 - "Unexpected error The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted." - I'm not sure how this can be possible. The Exchange server is connected to the domain fine, and I can log in via OWA. Any assistance in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated Regards, Samuel

Hi 1. Are you using a Offline Folders / cached mode. 2. What addins to Outlook are you using. 3. Does the client machine have the correct DNS suffix configured in the DNS settings of the IP config (this would be the same as the Exchange server). 4. Has a delay been configured in the Send Receive settings. Good Luck

Hi M-Hoveizeh Thankyou for your prompt reply NoDefault outlook clientYesNo The exchange server runs perfectly once I manually start all the services (system attendant fails to start). The problem appears to be this: MS Exchange System Attendant cannot contact the domain controllerServices that are starting after the MS Exchange System Attendant fail to start I don't understand how the System Attendant cannot contact the domain controller (tried disabling FW) when I can log into OWA fine, and access Active Directory Users and Computers fine Many Thanks, Samuel

Hi Zhang, At the time of the posting, I believed it was a simple OS issue regarding a service not starting. The issue has been resolved, as it was discovered that there was a firewall rule on the domain controller preventing the Exchange server from connecting. This very simple firewall rule had generated a lot of confusion. Many Thanks, Samuel