I've got a virtual server running Win2008 RC2. I've set up IIS6 with a virtual SMTP server on it to be the mail provider for the websites I'm hosting there. It all works great, but if for some reason the server reboots (auto updates are still enabled - I'm trying to make this as little work as possible as we've got a Lot of clients), the IIS6 doesn't restart the SMTP server. The failure causes 500 errors on the current setup, so I'm spending half the day apologising.

Any ideas?

In Services I've set everything to come back up automatically, but still no dice.

As soon as I restart the SMTP, no problems, all the mail gets sent. It's working perfectly, it just won't restart on it's own.

I'd really rather not turn auto updates off as we're such a small company I just can't spare the time to be manually updating 15 copies of windows every time MS decide there's a security patch.

All advice appreciated! BTW, I am a complete newb to these forums. I searched but couldn't find an answer, so please be nice. But firm. I've got to learn here.