Exchange 2007: Outlook Web Access did not initialize. An event has been logged so that the system administrator can resolve the issue.

Summary: After the default 15 minute forms based authentication timeout, it does not default to FBA login page. Instead you get an HTTP error page:

Outlook Web Access did not initialize. An event has been logged so that the system administrator can resolve the issue. Please contact technical support for your organization

In addition you may also get Event ID 30

Event ID 30
There is an error in your Outlook Web Access configuration.
The authentication type specified on the OWA virtual directory is set to Anonymous. This check box must be cleared for Outlook Web Access to function properly.

Solution: In this instance, the permissions of the OWA virtual directory were not corrrect. The parent OWA was set correctly but the control subfolder\files were not.

OWA virtual directory permissions

OWA - Basic
8.1.240.5 - Enable anonymous access
8.1.263.0 - Enable anonymous access
8.1.291.1 - Enable anonymous access
8.1.311.2 - Enable anonymous access
auth - Enable anonymous access
Bin - Enable anonymous access
Current - Basic
forms - Basic
Help - Basic
smime - Basic
spell - Basic



James Chong (MVP)
MCITP | EMA; MCSE | M+, S+
Security+, Project+, ITIL
msexchangetips.blogspot.com