Error: "Microsoft Exchange couldn't start transport agents. The Microsoft Exchange Transport service will be stopped." appears in the Application Event log

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

After updating an Exchange 2007 or higher server to a newer version of Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) and changing the default installation path of SMSMSE, Microsoft Exchange transport agents no longer start.

Symptoms
Below is an example of the Application Event log error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeTransport
Event Category: Configuration
Event ID: 16023
Description:
Microsoft Exchange couldn't start transport agents. The Microsoft Exchange Transport service will be stopped. Exception details: Failed to create type 'Symantec.MailSecurity.Server.TransportAgent.SMSMSESMTPAgentFactory' from assembly 'J:\Program Files\Symantec\SMSMSE\6.0\Server\Symantec.MailSecurity.Server.TransportAgent.dll' due to error 'Invalid agent assembly path.'. : Microsoft.Exchange.Data.ExchangeConfigurationException: Failed to create type 'Symantec.MailSecurity.Server.TransportAgent.SMSMSESMTPAgentFactory' from assembly 'J:\Program Files\Symantec\SMSMSE\6.0\Server\Symantec.MailSecurity.Server.TransportAgent.dll' due to error 'Invalid agent assembly path.'. ---> System.ArgumentException: Invalid agent assembly path.
 

Cause

Either the Exchange transport service has incorrect file path information for the Symantec Mail Security for MIcrosoft Exchange transport agent .dlls, or it cannot load the filepath due to permission restrictions.

Resolution

There are three ways to fix this issue:

• Verify the service account has permission to the location of the .dll
• Manually uninstall, and then reinstall the SMSMSESMTPAgent referred to in the Application Event log error
  or
• Remove SMSMSE , using add/remove programs, and then reinstall

This error can also occur if the service account being used by the Microsoft Exchange Transport service does not have acess permission to the location of the .dll.
 

You can use the Effective permissions tool to determine whether or not the account used by the Microsoft Exchange Transport service has access to the referenced filepath (by default, it logs on with the "Network service" account).

1. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\<version>\
2. Right click the Server folder and click Properties,
3. Select the Security tab, and click Advanced, then the Effective permissions tab.
4. Type in the name of the account being used (again "Network service" by default) and verify it has full control. If not, change the account to have full control to the filepath.
5. Restart the Exchange Transport service.

You can manually uninstall, and then reinstall the SMSMSESMTPAgent referred to in the Application Event log error

1. Open the Exchange Management Shell.
2. To uninstall the SMSMSESMTPAgent, at the prompt type:
   
   Uninstall-TransportAgent -Identity "SMSMSESMTPAgent"
   
   
3. To install the SMSMSESMTPAgent, at the prompt type:
   
   Install-TransportAgent -Name "SMSMSESMTPAgent" -TransportAgentFactory "Symantec.MailSecurity.Server.TransportAgent.SMSMSESMTPAgentFactory" -AssemblyPath "<installed path>\SMSMSE\<version>\Server\Symantec.MailSecurity.Server.TransportAgent.DLL"
   

Where <installed path> is the path to the SMSMSE folder.  The default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec

 

To remove SMSMSE using add/remove programs and then reinstall

1. Remove SMSMSE using add/remove programs.
2. Open the Exchange Management Shell.
3. At the prompt type:
   
   get-transportagent
   
4. If the SMSMSESMTPAgent and the SMSMSERoutingAgent are still listed use the following commands to remove them:
   
   Uninstall-Transportagent -identity "SMSMSESMTPAgent"
   Uninstall-TransportAgent -identity "SMSMSERoutingAgent"
   
5. Install SMSMSE.

The correct file path for the SMSMSESMTPAgent and the SMSMSERoutingAgent will be automatically registered with Microsoft Exchange.