Summary: The error “The Microsoft Exchange administrator has made a change that requires you quit and restart Outlook” usually occurs when you migrate from one Exchange Server to another. In this post, we’ve mentioned the solutions to fix this error. We’ve also mentioned an EDB to PST converter tool that can help you restore Exchange database if anything goes wrong.
Exchange Server is a huge application environment for collaboration. You get new features when you upgrade to a newer version, till the lifetime of the server. Sometimes, while upgrading from one Exchange Server to another, upgraded Exchange users get the following error:
The Microsoft Exchange administrator has made a change that requires you to quit and restart Outlook.
This error occurs after the mailbox migration from one Exchange Server to another. When the users open Outlook, it prompt an error saying that the Administrator made some changes and that it requires the user to restart Outlook.
There is no harm in this as these things happen. However, when it reoccurs every time the user closes and reopens Outlook or when the user restarts the devices, it will be a burden and an annoyance to the user.
Here are the steps to fix “The Microsoft Exchange administrator has made a change that requires you quit and restart Outlook” error:
Step 1: Create a New Profile
The first thing to do is create a new profile for the user on Outlook.
Note: Do not immediately delete the profile of the user. If it does not work, you would need to revert and reset everything the user profile had.
Follow the below steps to create a new profile:
- Go to the Mail (Microsoft Outlook) option in the Control Panel.
- Click on the Add button, create a new profile, and enter all the details of the user. Then, tick the Prompt for a profile to be used. This will open a small prompt when you open Outlook, asking you which profile you want to load.
Step 2: Remove the Current Profile
If a new profile does not work, you may also remove the current profile and then recreate the profile.
Step 3: Reinstall the Office
If this fails, you can try to reinstall the Office application.
Step 4: Check Encryption Method & Cached Mode
The other things to check in Outlook are the Encryption method, cached mode, and the NTLM authentication. Follow these steps:
- To turn off the cached mode, open the Account Settings.
- Double click on the account and disable the Cached Exchange Mode. This will work with Outlook online directly.
- Restart the Outlook.
Step 5: Verify the Outlook Anywhere Settings
If the above step does not work, you can try to verify the Outlook Anywhere settings in Exchange Sever. This can be done by using the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) and running the PowerShell command as given below.
Get-OutlookAnywhere | FL
This will give the information you need to verify on your Exchange Server. The IIS Authentication methods can be changed by using the Set-OutlookAnywhere command (as given below).
Set-OutlookAnywhere -Identity “EX2019\Rpc (Default Web Site)” -SSLOffloading $true -ExternalClientAuthenticationMethod NTLM -InternalClientAuthenticationMethod NTLM -IISAuthenticationMethods Basic,NTLM,Negotiate
Note: This would require a restart of the Exchange Server services for the changes to take effect. So, prepare for the downtime or do the task during the maintenance window.
Step 6: Move the Mailbox to Another Exchange Server Mailbox Database
You can also try to move the mailbox to another Exchange Server mailbox database. This can be done from the Exchange Admin Center (EAC). Follow the given steps:
- After logging in the portal, click on Recipients and then click on Migration.
- Click on the plus (+) button and click on Move to a different database.
- Select the mailbox to move and the destination database. Then click Finish. Once the migration job is created, you can see the status of the mailbox.
- This can be done via the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) by using the below PowerShell command.
New-MoveRequest -Identity user2@mail.lan -TargetDatabase db2
Step 7: Check Attributes in Active Directory Schema
If you have migrated from an older version of Exchange Server, there might be some attributes in the Active Directory Schema of the public folders that might still have some values which were not purged during the migration.
It is also important to note that this might occur only after you have upgraded from Exchange Server 2007 or 2010 to Exchange Server 2013 or higher. This usually occurs in a particular attribute in the Databases section.
Normally, you cannot see it. To modify the contents, you need to use the ADSIEDIT.MSC. This will allow you to modify the Active Directory Schema, since all the Exchange Server configurations are stored there. Use the following steps to modify Active Directory Schema:
- Open the ADSIEDIT.MSC.
- Right-click and click on Connect To.
- Change the Naming Context to Configuration and click OK.
- Browse to Configuration, Services, Microsoft Exchange, First Organization, Administrative Group, Exchange Administrative Group, and Databases.
- Open the database in question where the affected users are.
- In the Attribute Editor tab, find the attribute msExchHomePublicMDB and clear any entries from it that is showing as <not set>.
- Click OK.
After this, the users should not receive the prompt to restart Outlook.
Note: Be careful when you modify anything in the Active Directory Schema. There is no undo button. If you change something else or delete an object, you might end up with a non-functional Exchange Server or the server will have boot problems. In this case, you should backup your mailboxes to PST format so that you can import the PST into destination Exchange Server without any data loss. By using applications, like Stellar Converter for EDB, you can do this in a few simple steps.
Conclusion
You must be very careful when editing the schema as there is no undo button if anything goes wrong. Also, when having issues after migration or during migration, you could end up with migration failure issues. In such cases, you can use an application, like Stellar Converter for EDB. By using this application, you can browse through the EDB file and export mailboxes, public folders, and other items to PST and other file formats. You can also export directly to a new Exchange Server database or Office 365 tenant.
