checking incoming server settings last resort

Symptoms:

You are receiving a message “checking incoming server settings” on an Android device when adding an account for an Exchange Mail server. The event times out and no connection is established.

Quick fix of last resort:

If you are sure all other prerequisites are met (see below) make sure that you are connecting from a 3G connection, not from a WiFi. This is to say that your SIM card is active and you are using the correct carrier.

Explanation:

For some unknown reason establishing an ActiveSync relationship on an Android goes only over 3G/4G connections. Later sync process doesn’t need that and works perfectly well over a WiFi.

Other Prerequisites in order of importance:

• Firewall is correctly set (for every version of Exchange 2007 and above 443 is sufficient)
• The user profile has ActiveSync status set to enabled
• There are no ActiveSync policies on the Exchange server preventing certain users, groups, etc. from connecting
• The server is up and available over OWA from outside the corporation
• On Android you set up the account name in the form domainname\username (backslash important!)
• On Android you set up the correct server address as servername.domain.com (no https:// before and /owa or /exchange after that!)
• On Android you activate the “server requires SSL connection” setting.