Outlook 2011 - Error Code -17997

Question

I have set up Mac Outlook 2011 to connect to our Exchange 2007 server.  The first Exchange account connects without a problem, but their are two more accounts on the server that I need to connect to.

I can add the accounts, but get a yellow light next to the accounts when connecting them.  The settings I use are:

Authentication:

• method: user Name and Password
• user name: <full e-mail address>
• password: <proper password)

Advanced, Server Tab:

• Microsoft Exchange
• Server: <fully qualified domain name, which I can connect to through a browser using https://webmail.domainname.com>
• Use SSL to connect
• Directory Service
• Server: <the internal address of our domain controller>
• <checked> Login with my Exchange credentials
• Search Base: "dc=<companyname>, dc=com"

When I try to send an e-mail, I get a message that "Unexpected data was encountered."  When I go into the error log, I see that "mail could not be sent" with the error code -17997.

Can someone help?

Answer 1

Had this problem on my Mac Air with Outlook 2011.  Solved the problem but it was a server-side solution.

Had to rebuild the virtual directories on the Exchange Server 2010, apparently that's a known problem.  In order to do that thru the Exchange Management Console had to upgrade the server to SP3.  Then could use the GUI to rebuild each of the IIS virtual directories.

That solved it!

Answer 2

Verify that you are using your account's primary SMTP email address as defined on the Exchange server. You cannot use an alias or bogus address.

User name may not necessarily be the same as your email address. Use whatever user name you'd use for Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Hi Sean,

There are some troubleshooting steps on the Office Help page.

Let me know if they help :-\

Corentin

Answer 4

I have set up an exchange account on Microsoft Outlook for mac 2011 and when i try to send emails, i get an error code - 17997. Does anyone know how i can fix this? All the relevant data has been input correctly and works on my old mac with Entourage 2008.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 5

Error -17997

"Unexpected Data was Encountered error
Error -17997"

Can connect to Exchange server and receive mail, but when sending, the messages hang in the Outbox with error -17997, unexpected data was encountered.

Users reported these fixes:

Option 1:

1: Changed the server name to the URL of used to access OWA via the your browser.


2: Tick Override default port in the Outlook 2011 settings and changed the port to 442

Option 2:

The solution I had to take was to create a new identity.

How to move your data to a new Identity