Question

OWA Loading... when using SSL, fine without!!!

Asked by: neilos

Hi All,

I'd like some help with an old favourite, the dreaded OWA loading... screen.

I'm using SBS2003 hosting Exchange 2003, the client is running IE7 and I can generate the same error internally as well as externally.

I can log into OWA with SSL using the basic login and it works fine, when I log in using the Premium (default) I get the OWA Loading... screen and therefore never see any messages.

I have Reset the HighWaterMarks and followed all the other checks in the following article without success:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/280823

When I remove the check to enable SSL in IIS for OWA I can successfully log in to either Basic or Premium and see all the messages.   Therefore I thought maybe it's the certificate so I installed a self Enterprise CA on the server and created it's own certificate, I still get the same error.  The certificate I originally used was the one that gets generated through the SBS install.

So short of reinstalling Exchange or the server, what options are left?

Any help is very welcome, thanks in advance.
Neilos

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-07-24 at 16:05:26ID22718601
Topics

Microsoft IIS Web Server

,

Exchange Email Server

,

SBS Small Business Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
0
Comments
21

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. OWA SSL Configuration
    Does anyone have a document for setting up OWA with SSL for Exchange 2003 on SBS2003?
  2. SSL Certificate Issues with OWA
    I know it is a bad idea to use "homegrown" certificates for the outside world, but I'm just trying to get this working for the time being. I have a single Exchange 2003 Server running OWA. The Exchange server is also the Enterprise root CA and I have a certificate i...
  3. Windows Vista OWA SSL Certificate
    I am running windows vista on my laptop and I can't seem to install my OWA SSL. We have a self certified certificate but i can't seem to find an option to install the certificate?? When I click view certificate all I get is an option which is greyed out called issuer stateme...
  4. SSL certificate
    Hello, Can someone please explain the purpose of a SSL web server certificate. We are running 2003 SBS with about 10 users, and access our e-mail through OWA when we are out of the office, and our certificate has expired. I'm fairly new at all this and I'm not sure how impor...
  5. SSL Certificate Installation
    I'm running SBS2003 R2, and would like to set up RPC over HTTPS. I understand that it's a good ideal to obtain and install a SSL certificate. I purchased one from GoDaddy, and I've gone to Default Web Site properties-Directory Security- Server Certificate But when trying to...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-24 at 16:15:03ID: 19560969

There are a couple of reasons for this which are addressed in these two KB Articles:


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910119

or

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/280823

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: roamingllamaPosted on 2007-07-24 at 16:16:47ID: 19560978

Try Going into IIS and allow anonymous access to the ExchWeb folder.  This sometimes happens because the IUSR_<MACHINENAME> user password gets changed by an install.  Or you could change the IUSR_<MACHINENAME> user password then just go in and change the password in IIS.

If this doesn't work let me know.

Thanks,
Dan

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-24 at 23:44:02ID: 19563138


Hi Jeff and Dan,

Thanks for your quick responses.  Firstly Jeff, the first article relates two front end and back end exchange environments, we only have the one exchange server.  The second article I referenced in my question indicating that I've been through these with no success.  Dan, anon access is already granted to the Exchweb folder for the IUSR account which I know works with it's default password which I'd rather not change if possible.

So any other options or advice guys and girls?

Thanks in advance
Neilos

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-25 at 00:02:40ID: 19563204

Sorry about that, I grabbed the wrong link... it should have been http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842470

But it's interesting that you actually know the IUSR account password.  Did you change it once already?  If so, did you also change it in the IIS Metabase as well?  (See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sms/smssp2/spsecurity/81bd4dfa-0644-4bc2-afa5-1eadc86016ae.mspx?mfr=true)

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-25 at 00:09:49ID: 19563235


A misunderstanding sorry, I didn't say I know the IUSR password, I'm saying I know that it works and that I'd rather not change it for that reason and as it's also used elsewhere in IIS with other sites.

We don't use any Trend Micro software on the server or our clients, we use Symantec Corporate Anti Virus as our security solution.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again
Neilos

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-25 at 00:32:02ID: 19563319

I probably should have first had you reinstall the patch from KB831464 as that's what's most often broken in OWA and reinstallation is never a problem.  See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831464

There are also some post SP1 patches that can fix issues such as this which may have already been applied but do break sometimes.  But these are covered by reapplying Exchange SP2 if you've already installed SP2, or if you haven't then you should.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-25 at 07:29:55ID: 19565671


I tried the patch and the workaround in the link you suggested but no luck, the patch won't install due to a later SP installed, it's SBS 2003 R2 SP2.  Exchange is running SP2, are you suggesting reinstalling the Exchange SP2, is it easy?
Any other suggestions welcome

Thanks again
Neilos

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-25 at 10:38:15ID: 19567893

Yes, reinstalling Exchange SP2 will take you all of about 15 minutes.  No reboot.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-25 at 17:41:20ID: 19571135


There doesn't seem to be any documentation on how to uninstall SP2, please can you help?

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-25 at 21:28:18ID: 19571838

Nothing was said about UNINSTALLING it.  You just install it again over the top.  Run the update.exe file in the Setup Folder.  Many Service Packs can't be uninstalled, but they often have to be reinstalled if a major change breaks them.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-26 at 16:03:08ID: 19579033


I reinstalled SP2 on the server and retested OWA and the same loading... message comes up internally and externally so it seems that hasn't fixed it unfortunately.

Any other ideas?
Thanks again in advance
Neilos

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-26 at 19:55:53ID: 19579984

The next step would be to reset Exchange's IIS Virtual folders.  

This would be done by following this KB article:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883380

If that is unsuccessful, then you must reinstall IIS and Exchange following http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320202

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-27 at 00:13:57ID: 19580653


I've already reset the folders, tried it a couple of times even with separete websites in IIS (not the default) and still no success, looks like an Exchange reinstall is the only thing left.

I'll let you know how I go.
Thanks
Neilos

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-27 at 15:21:58ID: 19582783

What do you mean "not the default"???  OWA cannot be moved from the Default Web Site.  So if you've modified that in any way you must reinstall per KB320202.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: roamingllamaPosted on 2007-07-28 at 09:57:33ID: 19585253

This can happen sometimes also when the OWA site is in the wrong Security Zone in IE
Give this a whirl:
1. Go to the Security tab in Internet Options and select Trusted Sites.
2. Click on the Sites button.
3. Add your OWA site (internal and external URL).  You will probably have to uncheck the box to require SSL.
3. Click Close then Click the Custom Level for the Trusted Sites.
4. Make sure that Active Scripting is enabled (In the "Scripting" section.

You could also just change the level or all internet sites and intranet sites to enable Active scripting.

Thanks,
Dan

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-29 at 02:27:28ID: 19587512


Hi All,

I know by default OWA is installed in the Default Web Site in IIS but if you create another HTTP server in System Manager you can have it in it's own website in IIS rather than the default, I tried both with no success.

I've also added the internal and external URLs to trusted sites and enabled scripting but still no success.

Any other alternatives guys?
Thanks again
Neil

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-29 at 11:21:31ID: 19588655

"but if you create another HTTP server in System Manager you can have it in it's own website in IIS rather than the default"

Do you know this to be true on an SBS?  Because as far as I know, you cannot do that on an SBS without some serious manual tweaking of the server.

As I stated earlier, if you've monkeyed around with this already your only alternative is to reinstall IIS and Exchange per KB320202.  So, your "other alternative" has already been suggested.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-29 at 11:23:00ID: 19588660

Also... what's your reisitance to reinstalling Exchange?  I've used the methods in 320202 many times with successful results.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2007-07-30 at 23:46:19ID: 19598166


Hi All,

Before I follow the instructions for a reinstall of Exchange on KB320202 I'd like to know whether anybody has done this successfully on an SBS Server as we have SBS 2003.

Many thanks in advance.
Neilos

 

by: TechSoEasyPosted on 2007-07-31 at 22:51:25ID: 19606522

It's good that you're asking that, because you never know whether or not someone that gives you advice actually realizes that you're working with an SBS.  But in case you haven't read my profile, I ONLY work with Small Business Servers, and my comment above which states that I've used 320202 successfully have all been on SBS.

Jeff
TechSoEasy

 

by: neilosPosted on 2008-06-17 at 17:32:20ID: 21808721


Found own solution, was related to the SSL level of encryption in IIS...

Thanks for all your help
Neilos

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...