Windows Server 2008 does include a basic POP3 service as part of the OS, but it lacks modern features:

# PowerShell command to install POP3 service
Add-WindowsFeature POP3-Service, POP3-SVC

The built-in solution has several limitations:

• No IMAP support (only POP3)
• No webmail interface (unlike Exchange's OWA)
• Basic authentication only (no OAuth)
• Limited administration tools

For a complete solution with both mail protocols and webmail, consider this open-source stack:

1. hMailServer + Roundcube

hMailServer provides robust SMTP/POP3/IMAP services with excellent Windows integration:

# Example hMailServer SQL configuration
INSERT INTO hm_domains 
(domainname, domainactive, domainpostmaster) 
VALUES ('yourdomain.com', 1, 'postmaster@yourdomain.com');

Pair it with Roundcube webmail (PHP-based):

// Sample Roundcube config.inc.php
$config['default_host'] = 'ssl://localhost';
$config['default_port'] = 993;
$config['smtp_server'] = 'tls://localhost';
$config['smtp_port'] = 587;

2. MailEnable Standard Edition

A complete Windows-native solution with built-in webmail:

• Supports SMTP, POP3, IMAP
• Includes ASP.NET webmail client
• Active Directory integration
• Free version available

When running mail services on your web server:

Firewall Configuration

# Windows Firewall rules (PowerShell)
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "SMTP (TCP 25)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 25
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "IMAP (TCP 143)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 143
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "IMAPS (TCP 993)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 993

DNS Records Setup

Essential records for proper mail delivery:

; Zone file example
@        IN  MX  10  mail.yourdomain.com.
mail     IN  A      192.0.2.1
@        IN  TXT    "v=spf1 a mx -all"
_dmarc   IN  TXT    "v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:postmaster@yourdomain.com"

• Enable TLS for all services (SMTP, IMAP, POP3)
• Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
• Regularly update both mail server and webmail software
• Consider fail2ban for brute force protection

For easier maintenance, consider containerized solutions:

# docker-compose.yml example for mailu.io
version: "2.2"

services:
  front:
    image: mailu/nginx:$VERSION
    ports:
      - "25:25"
      - "587:587"
      - "993:993"
    environment:
      - DOMAIN=yourdomain.com

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Windows Server 2008 does include a basic POP3 service, but it's not enabled by default. Here's how to set it up:

# PowerShell command to install POP3 service
Add-WindowsFeature POP3-Service

However, there are several limitations:

• No IMAP support (POP3 only)
• No built-in webmail interface
• Basic functionality without advanced features

For a more complete solution with both POP3/IMAP and webmail, consider these options:

1. hMailServer + Roundcube

While hMailServer doesn't include webmail, you can easily pair it with Roundcube:

# Example hMailServer configuration (hMailServer.ini)
[Database]
Type=MYSQL
Username=hmailuser
Password=yourpassword
Port=3306

2. MailEnable Standard Edition

A good alternative with built-in webmail:

# Sample MailEnable configuration for SMTP
[SMTPService]
Port=25
MaxConnections=50

For any mail server solution, you can add webmail using:

• Roundcube (PHP-based)
• SquirrelMail (older but simple)
• RainLoop (modern alternative)

When running your own mail server:

# Windows Firewall rule for mail ports
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Mail Server" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=25,110,143,587,993,995

For better performance on the same server hosting your website:

# IIS Application Pool settings for webmail
appcmd set apppool /apppool.name:MailAppPool /queueLength:5000