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After we started testing with Windows 7 we found that it had an issue connecting to an Exchange 2003 server when using Outlook over RPC. We could still connect using Outlook over RPC to the server on our Windows XP machines. While troubleshooting the connection I noticed that on the Windows XP when opening Outlook using the /rpcdiag switch that it had the name of the server with its netbios name (i.e. server1), but on Windows 7 it showed the server with its fully qualified domain name (i.e. server1.office.local)

This triggered an idea and I checked the server registry key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Rpc\RpcProxy) where you have to configure the ports and found that it was configured to use the netbios name and not the longer fully qualified domain name. A few seconds after I made this registry change the Windows 7 machine connected to Outlook and started syncing email! I tested my Windows XP machines, restarted the server, and everything was still connected.

Registry entry before change: server1:6001-6002;mail.domain.com:6001-6002;server1:6004;mail.domain.com:6004

Registry entry after: server1.office.local:6001-6002;mail.domain.com:6001-6002;server1.office.local:6004;mail.domain.com:6004