Fooling Exchange

Problem: A user reported that each time she got a meeting invitation, Exchange was also sending the invitation to another account in the office next door (her boss). I checked all the usual settings in her Outlook configuration and could find no reason for the invitation being forwarded. All attempts to figure out what was causing this failed.

Solution: This is not a solution, but a workaround. I exported her mail to a .pst file and saved her Outlook data strored in her user profile (both the Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook and the Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook paths). I also saved her Desktop, Favorites and My Documents directories from her user profile. I then had the administrator delete her Exchange mailbox and her Windows userid. After he redefined her userid and mailbox and reset the permissions on her server directory, I had her logon to recreate her local user profile. I launched Outlook to re-establish her Outlook connection to the Exchange server and restored all her saved Outlook settings. At the end of all this she was able to get a meeting invitation without forwarding the phantom invitation to her boss.

I have no idea why this worked, but it's okay so far. I have my fingers crossed (as I often do in this business)