Troubleshooting some Exchange 2010 + iPhone email authentication problems

authenticationexchange-2010iphone

We have an Exchange Server 2010 that seems to be running fine.

Currently, we have most people able to connect to Exchange via various means and have a rich exchange email experience. Two of our users can't connect, though -> and I'm hoping someone can help explain some steps I can take to troubleshoot the server problems (assuming it's a server configuration issue).

Firstly, the following people can connect fine to Exchange 2010

  • Dad: iPhone (3Gs) + Mac Air (using Mail)
  • Mum: iPad (wifi) + iPhone (3G)
  • Sister: iMac (using Mail)
  • Wife: iMac (using Mail) and iPhone (3G) and iPad(wifi)
  • Everyone: OWA (any web browser)

Now, when I and my sister use our iPhone's (3Gs and 4G respectively) it keeps failing to connect.

It starts out saying:

Exchange Account. Unable to verify account information.

I'm assuming that i've entered our username/passwords correctly. I've also checked this by logging onto OWA with my username/password .. to confirm my credentials.

Now -> there's only ONE similarity between all these devices.

  • The ones that work -> our exchange account is the ONLY mail account on those devices.
  • For myself, I have another exchange account already in my phone. For my sister, she has an existing GMail account setup on her phone. So we're both trying to add a SECOND email account to our phones. Sounds weird, but that's the only pattern I can see.

So – i'm assuming this is some weird Exchange Server configuration issue. I'm not sure how I can see what is happening on the server.

Can someone suggest some things I can tick on/turn to verbose to get some info about what is happening, please – so I can troubleshoot any mobile user connection attempts?

Best Answer

My first question is are the affected users members of (or have ever been a member of) a privileged group (such as Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins)? If so, ActiveSync has issues with administrative accounts.

You can turn up the diagnostic logging for ActiveSync to hopefully give you some pointers to the problem. Open up the Exchange Management Console and go to Server Configuration => Mailbox and chose Manage Diagnostic Logging Properties from the action pane.

Turn the MSExchange-ActiveSync options up to High and try to sync your iPhone and see if you get anything useful. Be sure to change the logging back down to Lowest when you've done - your server will love you for it.

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