[HTC Excalibur] swyftmeister:
WM6.1 SMTP Bug - Help with Registry Fix Needed

Can any of you out there who have deep registry knowledge help out with the SMTP problem in WM6.1? it's causing deep distress because I cannot use the built in outlook client to send gmail emails.

It appears that there is a registry entry that acts as a reference point to a secondary SMTP server if a connect to the primary SMTP server fails. If this registry entry could be located and populated with an open access SMTP server (i.e. smtp.gmail.com) then hopefully the problem would go away.

Does the kavana WM6.1 ROM allow access to OEM registry entries as referenced in the below?

Microsoft explanation of the problem is as follows:

"I continue to drive this issue hard internally and it has received executive level attention. I am asking for a date for a CAB. You can inform user's that they will not need to flash a ROM update to WM 6.1.4 but they will receive a CAB-installable update that fixes the problem. The big question remains, "When?"

In the mean time, here is a bit more about the cause: This was a horribly unfortunate side-effect of adding a feature to 6.1 designed to help ensure users can send mail on Operator networks that do IP filtering and block sending e-mail via an SMTP server that is not on their network. We introduced an OEM/Operator registry key override in 6.1 that specifies a backup SMTP server. Business logic was added that attempts to use the backup SMTP server address when the user-specified SMTP server address fails. If the backup server address succeeds, it becomes the new default. The bug occurs when the OEM-specified registry key is empty and when sending via the user-specified SMTP address fails for any reason at any time. Once the device gets in this state, SMTP fails without recovery for the account. (Although, Matt, you said you were able to send again by flipping SSL/Outgoing authentication settings. We didn’t see that.) This explains why users hit the bug only sporadically, and why recreating the account solves the problem (if only temporarily – until the next SMTP failure).

It is incredibly unfortunate that this was not caught in testing, nor during the extended Beta period for 6.1, nor in our TAP program, nor by internal “dogfood” usage of 6.1, nor during Mobile Operator trials. It took us weeks to identify reproducible steps even when we received your device and focused on it in August! This is an especially bitter pill given that the feature we added to help ensure sending success (for a known blocking issue on some mobile operator networks) is the very feature that introduced sending failure. Of course, the Outlook Mobile Team is dismayed, disappointed, and determined to make it right, and so we are driving the issue very hard internally.

By the way, the registry key noted above is an OEM-protected key. So while end users cannot add or edit the key, it is possible that the Mobile Operators could OTA-provision the key with an SMTP server address that works on their network and this may well solve the problem. I am asking the team that added this feature for us to investigate if this will work as an additional mitigation. Regardless, we will develop a communication plan to Mobile Operators that they can distribute through their support organizations so that when user’s call with this problem they get an appropriate response. It pains me greatly to hear the testimony of users that are trying in vain to get their problem solved and I will do everything possible to drive a rapid response on this issue.

Matt, thank you again for finding it, making us aware of it, sending us your device, and for posting about it.

Hopefully, I’ll send you an update again tomorrow when I get a response from the sustained engineering team on a timeline."