“Active Sync encountered a problem on the server. Support code: 0×86000108″

This posts investigates the ActiveSync error: “Active Sync encountered a problem on the server. Support code: 0×86000108″. This post consists of what causes the ActiveSync support code: 0×86000108 error, the work around and the permanent fix.

The Cause of ActiveSync support code: 0×86000108:

From Microsoft KB this error is caused by the following: “Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 changes the alert message from the IPM.Note type to the IPM.Sharing type. Additionally, Exchange ActiveSync does not support the IPM.Sharing message type. Therefore, the Windows Mobile based-device cannot synchronize the alert message from Exchange 2003. “

Having access to one of the Smartphones not knowing about this error I initially performed the standard troubleshooting. Checked the ActivieSync settings, checked to ensure the Date and Time were set correctly, verified that the username/passwords were inputed correctly and ensured the Smartphone had the SSL certificate. All seemed alright however when performing a sync, ActiveSync initializes makes a connection with Microsoft Exchange 2003 but quickly performs the sync. At first glances it looked like it did a complete sync but the Smartphones reports the sync time didn’t change (last sync was at 8am and it was already close midday during the troubleshooting)

After reading the Microsoft KB I opened the users’ mailbox to confirm the cause mentioned. I filtered the emails in the Outlook Inbox by Received Date and went straight to the emails around the time after the last successful sync. Most of the emails were from internal users. The emails I concluded that were preventing the Smartphones fron synching and generating the support code: : 0×86000108 were email alerts generated from Sharepoint (MOSS 2007 in our case).

The work around ActiveSync support code: 0×86000108

Having established which emails were causing the problem I created a rule to dump all these email Alerts into another Folder.

Once these Alerts were out of the Inbox I performed another sync from the Smartphone and instantly updated the phone.

The permanent fix

Follow steps outlined from the Microsoft KB to request for a patch and install on your Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

This fix applies to Smartphones running Windows Mobile5.0 and connects to Micrsoft Exchange Server 2003.

I hope you found this article relevant and useful. Please provide comments below.