The following puzzling problem on a dell GX1 running Windows 2000 - service pack 1 - the latest Sophos AV - Outlook 2000 - two secretarial users wish to gain access to their directors mail and calendar from their Win'95 machines outlook '98. They have been given appropriate rights but cannot gain access. this problem has continued for some time.The following are steps already taken.

(a)Their superior originally had a Win95 machine and outlook '98, office '97. The 2 secs had access then one then later the other found they could not gain access.
(b) All settings on the pc and server were double checked and found to be correct, but were reset with the same result.
(c)Superiors PC changed and upgraded to win2000 and outlook 2000 office 2000. Cabling changed switch port changed, rights reset. same result.
(d)Superiors Mailbox on the server deleted and rebuilt. Same result.
Although this PC logs onto the single domain, from some PCs it is not visible. Some PCs on the domain will allow access to the mail on the superiors PC others will not. It is possible from some PCs to attach using MS SMS while from others with SMS it is not visible and cannot be attached to. Have looked at 'Technet' no joy. Any Suggestions will be welcomed.

Okay, a little muddled there...

First off, I'm not sure it's a smart idea to have the first person using Outlook 2000, and the secretaries using Outlook 98. You might check compatibility issues there.

And you left out the most important information... where's the mailbox at? On the workstation? On a shared drive on the server? And... what type of domain is it? And is everyone loggin into the domain?

Might try starting a new post with a little more info.....

A few questions:

I'm not sure but I think you're saying that the secretaries at one time DID have access to the directors Outlook and then it went away, is that right?

2) If YES- was it only when the director was running Win95/OL98 or did they have access temporarily after the W2K/OL2K upgrade?

3)What exacly HAPPENS when the secretaries try to access the directors mailbox? Error? Warning? Black smoke? ??

4)Is the Director accessing Outlook directly from the server or were personal folders created during the upgrade?

5)You mentioned some general networking issues- Is the Director the only one on the domain running Windows 2000 and if so, are you sure that the PC has been networked properly?

It sounds as if you made the leap from Win95 to Win 2000 which can be a shock because W2K is SERIOUS about networking and won't necessarily fail when configured incorrectly but may cause baffling things to happen

Thank you for your interest
Answers to Response 1
(a) Originally the 2 Sec's and the Director
had exactly the same PC setup Win'95 - Outlook '98 - Office '97 - Mailbox situated on an dedicated NT 4.0 server. 3 mail servers with users allocated to each alphabetically.
(b) It is a single Domain users must login to the domain access their mail from the server or view other peoples mail box.

Answers to Response 2
(1)They did have access originally see 'answers Response 1'
(2) Only when running Win'95 on Directors PC
no access with Win 2000
(3) Error 'MS Exchange does not recognise this is latest after rebuilding mailbox. Previously 'Cannot open folder'
(4) Director accesses mailbox from server
with win'95 had personal folders - new one created on upgrade and old contents copied in
(5)We have about 30% PCs running w2K remainder win'95 - no problem with networking
the directors PC can be accessed(with permissions) from other PCs on network
(6)The Win2k upgrade was made after all other measures failed to resolve the problem on the basis that it was more robust with a'clean' install
The problem is not a result of the upgrade but started with win'95
Thank you both for your interest and will wait your thoughts with interest - Terry