MBF Knowledge Base

How do I resolve the "Unable to Communicate with SmarterMail Service" error?

The SmarterMail Web interface communicates with the SmarterMail service over port 17001 or IPC. There are times, however, when communications problems between the web interface and the SmarterMail Service result in an error showing up in the Web interface that says "Unable to Communicate with SmarterMail Service".

Applies to All Versions of SmarterMail

To resolve this problem, perform the following steps:

Open a Windows command prompt

Run the following command: netstat –abnp tcp

You should see a line similar to the following:

TCP 0.0.0.0:17001 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING 1720 [MailService.exe]

If you see that line, SmarterMail is correctly listening on the port, and the problem is most likely something else. If you do not see that line, the SmarterMail service needs to be restarted.

If mailservice.exe is running in task manager but is not listening on port 17001, contact Mail's Best Friend support.