Question : Force Outlook 2003 to use encryption connection to Exchange

Hi All

I'm doing a migration from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010; the client has Outlook 2003 clients.

Exchange 2010 requires an encrypted connection from the Outlook client to the server by default and I do not want to change this. Outlook 2003 is NOT configured to use an encrypted connection by default but can be set.

Microsoft provides a GPO Admin template to force this setting on all clients. Details at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2006508.

This GPO has been set up at the root of the domain but doesn't seem to be working. I've tried this in a completely fresh installed XP SP2 with Outlook 2003 SP3, doesn't work. The MS KB article recommds the below to verify that the GPO is in effect,

"After you run this command, start Registry Editor on the client workstation to make sure that the following registry data exists on the client:

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\RPC
DWORD: EnableRPCEncryption
Value: 1

If you see this registry data in the registry, the Group Policy setting has been applied to this client. Start Outlook to verify that this change resolves the errors that are described in the "Symptoms" section."

I cannot see above registry value so the GPO is not taking effect.

Answer : Force Outlook 2003 to use encryption connection to Exchange

is there any event log information on the workstation showing the gpo failed to apply for whatever reason?  why not apply the gpo at the computer OU level rather than at the root of the domain.

Also, run rsop.msc to determine what gpos are being applied to the workstation and see if your's is in there.  I had a gpo setup for users to apply IE proxy settings and they weren't getting applied.  Determined it was caused by the order my gpos were being applied.  changed the order and it worked.