Metabase Update failed to properly initialize its context. It will retry initialization every number seconds until succeeds or shutdown is requested.

• Information Store service may not start.

• Databases may not mount.

• POP3 service may not start.

• IMAP4 service may not start.

• Exchange resources running on a cluster may not come online.

This event may also be logged when a domain controller that was running Exchange Server 2003 is demoted to a member server. During this demotion, the ASPNET security account is removed. This prevents the Metabase Update process from initializing. Additionally, this event may also be logged if there are underlying network connectivity and DNS issues, or if there is data that is not valid or unexpected in the Windows registry under the following registry key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ASP.NET

For example, when the .NET Framework 1.1 is installed, the name of the key under ASP.NET should be 1.1.4322.0. If the name of this key is changed, the Metabase Update process can no longer access the correct registry path and this event is logged.

Finally, this event message may also be logged if there are permissions problems in the Exchange Server environment.

You may notice one or more of the following events in the Application log. These additional events may give you more information about the cause of this error.

MSExchangeSA Event 1031: One of the System Attendant’s task is blocked. Function: ScStartVM Required.

MSExchangeMU Event 1043: Metabase Update failed to initialize enumerator of virtual server on cluster
database. Error code is error 800706b5 (The interface is unknown.).

MSExchangeMU Event 1042: Metabase Update failed to read the Configuration namespace property from the domain
controller. Error code is 80040a01.

POP3SVC Event 1036: An error occurred while starting the Microsoft Exchange POP3 Service: server
instance number 1 failed to start with error 0x80040a01.

IMAP4SVC Event 1036: An error occurred while starting the Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 Service: server
instance number 1 failed to start with error 0x80040a01.

MSExchangeCluster Event 1019: Exchange System Attendant – (EXCHANGE): Failed to bring this resource online
because of timeout.

MSExchangeCluster Event 1003: Exchange System Attendant – (EXCHANGE): Failed to bring the resource online.

MSExchangeCluster Event 1012: Exchange Information Store Instance – (EXCHANGE): The RPC call to the service to
take the resource offline failed.

To resolve this error, try one or more of the following:

• If this event is caused by the demotion of a domain controller running Exchange Server 2003 to a member server, you must reinstall Exchange Server 2003 to resolve this issue.
• If this event is logged because of a suspected permissions issue, you can run the setup /domainprep command to resolve the issue.
• If this event is caused by a key name in the registry that is not valid, change the value to 1.1.4322.0.

Note   If these user actions do not resolve this issue, turn up diagnostic logging for MSExchangeMU to Maximum to log additional events in the Application event log.

The following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base may apply:

• 822575 Metabase Update Service Stops After You Demote an Exchange Server 2003
• 303638 How to enable logging for Directory Service to Metabase replication