Sometimes, too many people have messed with it.
Plain and simple.
People like to check boxes. And enable/disable things. it’s fun.
But when it’s your CAS server, it can be a real hassle to navigate the IIS interface, and reset all of those little “tweaks”, placed there by someone with apparently no business “tweaking” IIS.
You know who you are.
;P

In these cases, it’s much easier to let Exchange do it for you, and all you need to open is the Exchange Management Shell.

This will list all the current OWA-related virtual directories.

get-owavirtualdirectory

This will delete the OWA virtual directory for the Default Web Site.

remove-owavirtualdirectory -identity "owa (Default Web Site)"

This command will re-create the owa virtual directory under the Default Web Site in IIS.

new-owavirtualdirectory -OWAVersion "Exchange2007" -Name "owa (Default Web Site)"


This command will re-create the “Exchange” virtual directory under the Default Web Site in IIS.

new-owavirtualdirectory -OWAVersion "Exchange2003or2000" -VirtualDirectoryType "Mailboxes" -Name "Exchange (Default Web Site)"


When you run this command, if you get an error similar to the one below, it is possible that IIS is set to work in 32 bit mode and not the required 64 bit mode.

New-OwaVirtualDirectory : An error occurred while creating the IIS virtual directory ‘IIS://mailserver.yourdomain.com/W3SVC/1/ROOT/owa’ on ‘mailserver’.
At line:1 char:24
+ New-OWAVirtualDirectory <<<< -OWAVersion "Exchange2007" -Name "owa" -Website "Default Web Site"

To make IIS run in 64 bit mode, run the following in an administrative command prompt:

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%inetpubadminscriptsadsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 0

THIS UPDATE WAS SHAMELESSLY RIPPED FROM http://my.opera.com/ravenoverride because if I have to spend another 2 hours searching for the correct command to add these to the proper site name, I’ll snap.

Remove-OWAVirtualDirectory -Identity “Owa (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-OWAVirtualDirectory -Identity “Exadmin (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-OWAVirtualDirectory -Identity “Exchange (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-OWAVirtualDirectory -Identity “Exchweb (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-OWAVirtualDirectory -Identity “Public (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -Identity “EWS (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory -Identity “Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-OabVirtualDirectory -Identity “OAB (XXXXXXX)” -Force:$true -Confirm:$false
Remove-UMVirtualDirectory -Identity “UnifiedMessaging (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false
Remove-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory -Identity “Autodiscover (XXXXXXX)” -Confirm:$false

To verify that the directories have been removed, run the following commands. You should receive no output:

Get-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory
Get-OABVirtualDirectory
Get-OWAVirtualDirectory
Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory
Get-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory
Get-UMVirtualDirectory

To properly create these virtual directories, run the following commands (Please keep the information what you got earlier for XXXXXXX and change it here to):

– Open Exchange Management Shell with elevated permission
– Run the following commands (THE COMMANDS ARE A ONE-LINER. THE NEXT COMMAND IS SEPARATED WITH —————————–. So copy and paste it into notepad, check if it is one line, read it carefully and change the information you have to provide. Information you have to provide is in BIG LETTERS or XXXXXXX):

New-OWAVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX” -OwaVersion “Exchange2007”
-ExternalAuthenticationMethods Fba
—————————–
Set-OWAVirtualDirectory -InternalUrl “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/owa/”
-ClientAuthCleanupLevel “Low” -LogonFormat “UserName” -DefaultDomain “NETBIOSDOMAINNAME”
-Identity “Owa (XXXXXXX)”
—————————–
New-OWAVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX” -OwaVersion “Exchange2003or2000”
-VirtualDirectoryType “Exadmin” -ExternalAuthenticationMethods Fba
—————————–
New-OWAVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX” -OwaVersion “Exchange2003or2000”
-VirtualDirectoryType “Mailboxes” -ExternalAuthenticationMethods Fba
—————————–
New-OWAVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX” -OwaVersion “Exchange2003or2000”
-VirtualDirectoryType “Exchweb” -ExternalAuthenticationMethods Fba
—————————–
New-OWAVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX” -OwaVersion “Exchange2003or2000”
-VirtualDirectoryType “PublicFolders” -ExternalAuthenticationMethods Fba
—————————–
New-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX”
-InternalUrl “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/EWS/Exchange.asmx” -basicauthentication 1
-windowsauthentication 1
—————————–
New-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX”
-InternalUrl “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync”
-ExternalAuthenticationMethods Basic -InternalAuthenticationMethods Basic
—————————–
New-OabVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX” -InternalUrl “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/OAB”
—————————–
Set-OabVirtualDirectory -PollInterval “30” -Identity “oab (XXXXXXX)”
—————————–
New-UMVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX”
-InternalUrl “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/UnifiedMessaging/Service.asmx”
—————————–
New-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory -WebsiteName “XXXXXXX”
-InternalUrl “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml”
-BasicAuthentication 1 -WindowsAuthentication 1
—————————–
Set-ClientAccessServer -Identity “Servername”
-AutoDiscoverServiceInternalUri “https://INTERNAL_FQDN_OF_EXCHANGE/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml”
—————————–
Set-OfflineAddressBook “Default Offline Address Book”
-VirtualDirectories “ServernameOAB (XXXXXXX)” -Versions Version2,Version3,Version4)”

– To check if we were successful in creating the virtual directories correctly type in the commands:

Get-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory
Get-OABVirtualDirectory
Get-OWAVirtualDirectory
Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory
Get-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory
Get-UMVirtualDirectory

For example, you should receive the following for Get-OWAVirtualDirectory

Name Server OwaVersion
——– ——- ———–

Owa (XXXXXXX) Server Name Exchange2007
Exadmin (XXXXXXX) Server Name Exchange2003or2000
Public (XXXXXXX) Server Name Exchange2003or2000
Exchweb (XXXXXXX) Server Name Exchange2003or2000
Exchange(XXXXXXX) Server Name Exchange2003or2000

– Then run the following commands to disable the Kernel Mode Authentication on EWS, Autodiscover, and OAB virtual directories (THE COMMANDS ARE A ONE-LINER. THE NEXT COMMAND IS SEPARATED WITH —————————–. So copy and paste it into notepad, check if it is one line, read it carefully and change the information you have to provide. Information you have to provide is in BIG LETTERS or XXXXXXX):

cd $env:windirsystem32inetsrv
—————————-
.appcmd.exe unlock config “-section:system.webserver/security/authentication/windowsauthentication”
—————————–
.appcmd.exe set config “XXXXXXX/ews” “-section:windowsAuthentication” “-useKernelMode:False” /commit:apphost
—————————–
.appcmd.exe set config “XXXXXXX/AutoDiscover” “-section:windowsAuthentication” “-useKernelMode:False” /commit:apphost
—————————–
.appcmd.exe set config “XXXXXXX/oab” “-section:windowsAuthentication” “-useKernelMode:False” /commit:apphost

– Run: iisreset /noforce

– You must rerun the Internet Address Management Wizard to stamp the new virtual directories with the proper external URL and maybe you have to check the certificates.