Disable Multimedia

Outlook Web Access users can download the Exchange Multimedia Control from the Options page. This control enables users of Internet Explorer 5 or later to insert audio and video content into messages. Because of the size of multimedia messages, some administrators may want to prevent Outlook Web Access users from taxing Exchange Server resources by sending audio and video content over a wide area network (WAN).

Note   Multimedia is not available for clients running Internet Explorer on Unix computers. However, using this registry key will deactivate multimedia for Windows users as well.

Warning    Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it, and you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To prevent Outlook Web Access users from downloading the multimedia control:

1. On the Start menu, click Run, type Regedt32.exe, and then click OK.
2. In Registry Editor, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on Local Machine, go to SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeWEB\OWA.
3. On the Edit menu, select Add Value.
4. In Add Value, type DisableMultimedia as the value name, select REG_DWORD as the data type, and then click OK.
5. In DWORD Editor, type 1 in the Data field. To enable multimedia, type 0. Click OK when done.