OL98: Activating Diagnostic Logging

ID: Q177878

The information in this article applies to:
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat). Both are hidden files in the Windows folder.

SUMMARY

To troubleshoot Internet Mail connections it is useful to log certain aspects of the connection. There is no option in the user interface of Outlook 98 to enable logging for Internet, SMTP, and POP sessions. You can enable logging by editing the Windows Registry.

To interpret the information in these logs see the REFERENCES section below.


MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

Enable Logging of Internet Mail Sessions

Enable logging of Internet mail sessions by adding a key to the Windows Registry. To add the key, follow these steps:

  1. On the File menu, click Exit or "Exit and Log Off."


  2. Click the Start button and click Run. type "regedit" (without the quotation marks), and click OK.


  3. Move to and click to select the following key:
    Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Options\Mail


  4. On the Edit menu, point to New and click DWORD Value.


  5. Type the name "Logging" (without the quotation marks) and press ENTER.


  6. In the Value data window, type "1" (without the quotation marks), click OK, and close the Registry Editor.


  7. Start Outlook to create the logs.


After establishing or attempting to establish an Internet Mail session, three files will be created at:
C:\Windows\Temp\Outlook Logging
The files are stored in this folder within a folder that corresponds to the name of the account. There will be a log folder for each account on the computer. The subfolder will contain 3 files for logging various activities:
InetXP.txt logs the Internet session


Pop3log.txt logs mail-retrieval activity


Smtplog.txt logs mail-sending activity


REFERENCES

For more information on interpreting the SMTP and POP3 Logs, see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID : Q155455
TITLE : How to Enable and Interpret the Smtp.log File

ARTICLE-ID : Q155515
TITLE : How to Enable and Interpret the Pop3.log File

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbdta 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: July 26, 1999