Setting up an Outlook 2007 Profile for Thoughtbus – using RPC over HTTP on Windows XP

 

Introduction

This procedure walks through the steps required for Outlook 2007 to connect to the Thoughtbus Exchange 2003 service via RPC over HTTP.  Both Outlook 2007 and Windows XP are required on the client PC in order for this capability to function.  Using RPC over HTTP should provide you with the best experience since it avoids VPN connections and the firewall issues of regular RPC.

 

Part 1 – Ensuring the Windows XP Pre-Requisites are Installed

Using RPC over HTTP in Outlook 2007 requires that your PC’s installation of Windows XP either have:

-          Service Pack 1, and have a Hotfix applied

Or

-          Service Pack 2

(Otherwise, the ‘RPC over HTTP’ option will not be shown when setting up the Outlook profile.)

 

To check the version of Windows XP you are running:

  1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  2. The version of the operating system and service pack is displayed under System. If you do not see a service pack version, there is no service pack installed.

 

If you are running Service Pack 2, you will not need a Hot-Fix, and can proceed to Part 2 (below).

 

If you are running Service Pack 1, you’ll need to install the Hot-Fix. To verify it isn’t installed yet:

1.       Start Control Panel and open ‘Add or Remove Programs’.
2.       Under ‘Currently Installed Programs’, search for the item ‘Windows XP Hotfix (SP2) Q331320’.
3.       If the item is not present, go to Windows XP Patch: RPC Updates Needed for Exchange Server 2003 and follow the instructions there to download and install the Hot-Fix.

 

Part 2 - Setting up the Outlook Profile

  1. Either:
    1. Start the ‘Control Panel’, and double-click the ‘Mail’ icon. (Note – if you’re running Windows XP you’ll need to switch the Control Panel to ‘Classic View’ to see this applet.)

       

Or

    1. Right-click the ‘E-mail -- Microsoft Office Outlook’ icon in the ‘Start menu’ and select ‘Properties ‘from the pop-up menu:

  1. If you see the ‘Mail Setup…’ window, then click the ‘Show Profiles…’ button.
  2. The following window will appear:

 

  1. Press the ‘Add…’ button – this will bring up the ‘New Profile’ window:

  1. Enter any profile name and press ‘OK' to start configuring the account:

 

Part 3 – Configuring the Account

 

  1. If you are setting up Outlook 2007 for the first time, you will see the following two screens; click “Next” on the “Outlook 2007 Startup” screen, and then answer “Yes” to the question of whether you’d like to set up an email account.  If you’ve used Outlook 2007 before, you’ll jump straight to the screen in step 2.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. This next screen is entitled “Auto Account Setup”.  This does not function with Exchange 2003, so check the checkbox to manually configure your server settings, and click “Next”.

 

 

  1. On the next screen, choose the “Microsoft Exchange” radio button and click “Next”.

 

 

 

  1. You will then see the following dialog box:

 

For the Microsoft Exchange Server entry, use mail30.thoughtbus.com, and ensure that the “Use Cached Exchange Mode” box is checked.

 

For User Name, use your primary email address.

 

Then click the “More Settings” button.

 

  1. At this point, depending on your firewall configuration
    a. you may have to wait as much as two minutes, after which this window will appear:

This is actually OK, so press the ‘OK’ button. Next, you'll be prompted for the Exchange Server and User name again, press 'Cancel' there.

OR

b. You will be prompted for your user credentials – press the ‘Cancel’ button here.

 

 

Here, check the “Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP” checkbox, and click the “Exchange Proxy Settings” box.

 

  1. Fill out the information as follows:

 

For the Exchange Proxy Server, use “mail.thoughtbus.com”.  Check both the “On fast networks…” and “On slow networks…” boxes.  Change the authentication type to “Basic Authentication”.

 

  1. Click “OK”, and then "OK" again, and you'll be back at the window titled "Add New E-mail Account".  Next, click "Check Name", and you'll be prompted for your username and password:

 

Enter your UPN Login in the ‘User name’ field here.  Note that the UPN Login looks like an email address, and yours might be the same as your email address, but these are 2 different things. Your UPN Login is in the format of <user name>@<domain name>.  (Alternatively, you may enter your ‘User name’ as ‘ENOMIA\’ followed by your Thoughtbus NT4 Login Name.)  Then enter your password and press ‘OK’.

 

  1. If everything is set up correctly, your name and the server’s name will underline. (Note that the server’s name may change here; this is OK.)  Click “Next”, and you’ll see the following screen:

 

 

Click “Finish”.

 

  1. Next, ensure that the profile you just created is listed in the ‘Always use this profile’ field, in the ‘Mail’ dialog.  Or, be sure that ‘Prompt for a profile to be used’ is selected:

and then click "Ok".

 

  1. Now you’re ready to logon to Outlook.  Start Outlook, and enter your User name and Password as prompted.

 

Outlook should start with the message "Preparing Outlook for First Use".

 

[End of Procedure]