We have a legacy domain that is still running Exchange Server 2003. We had a public folders store get corrupt awhile back and cannot currently delete it. We were able to recover and create a new public store from backup, but the old entry is still showing in system manager and we can't delete it. This is currently causing issue with our backups because it is detecting that the store is "offline". I'm wondering if someone could help me force this stale store out of there. When I try to delete it, I get the following output: "This public folder store is presently offline. Exchange Server cannot determine if the public folder store can be safely detleted. Unsafely deleting a public folder store can lead ot data loss and loss of essential functionality such as Offline Address List generation and Free/Busy informatiion. Bring the public folder store online and try again. If you cannot bring the public folder store online, and you want to delete it, manually remove the public folders store .edb and .stm database files from your computer, re-create the public folder store by remounting the database, and then try deleting the public folder store again. The original files don't exist, and i've tried remapping the database to a new location and have it recreate, but I still cannot force the store online. When I try to mount the store, I get the following: An internal processing error has occurred. Try restarting the Exchange System Manager or the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, or both. Examine the App Log for events related ot this error..... Any ideas?

On Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:03:46 +0000, Kevin Joy wrote: > > >We have a legacy domain that is still running Exchange Server 2003. We had a public folders store get corrupt awhile back and cannot currently delete it. We were able to recover and create a new public store from backup, but the old entry is still showing in system manager and we can't delete it. This is currently causing issue with our backups because it is detecting that the store is "offline". I'm wondering if someone could help me force this stale store out of there. Are you saying that you have two MAPI public folder stores on the same server??? I don't know if you mean that you just deleted the old PF database or if you deleted the PF store from the server. [ snip ] >The original files don't exist, You don't need the database files, you should only need the server on which the PF store existed. Mounting the database on that server will create an empty database and any replicas that existed on it should be recreated through a replication backfill. >and i've tried remapping the database to a new location and have it recreate, but I still cannot force the store online. When I try to mount the store, I get the following: > >An internal processing error has occurred. Try restarting the Exchange System Manager or the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, or both. Examine the App Log for events related ot this error..... >Any ideas? What's the application log error? --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP

Hi Kevin, Any update for your issue? Regards! GavinPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

To answer your questions: Yes, there are multiple public folders stores, but only one is online and actually has a database attached to it. The other is just the "name" of the database, and it is offline and the databases no longer exist. This is the one I am unable to delete. Not really much going on in the application log from what I remember. I'll have to take a closer look when I get back from the holidays. If my memory serves me correctly, it was probably April time frame last year that we were not able to bring our public folder store online. It just kept erroring out. I ended up having to restore a database from back, take the old store "offline", create a new store, and mount the old database on the new public folder store. This allowed the public folders to be brought back online. But, I was not able to actually "delete" the old public folder store, and still can't. Recently, our backup guys discovered that there were errors in the backup logs concerning the full backsups and messages about problems due to that old store being offline. I'm just not sure how to force a deletion of the old public store. Maybe it is the metadata in AD that needs to be deleted with ADSI or something? That is what i'm trying to figure out. Do I need to do something to delete it on the Exchange Server or delete it actually from Active Directory? Thanks!

On Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:52:46 +0000, Kevin Joy wrote: >To answer your questions: > >Yes, there are multiple public folders stores, but only one is online and actually has a database attached to it. The other is just the "name" of the database, and it is offline and the databases no longer exist. This is the one I am unable to delete. And BOTH of the PF stores are on the same server??? If not, for the one that's not mounted, what happens if you try to mount it? >Not really much going on in the application log from what I remember. I'll have to take a closer look when I get back from the holidays. > >If my memory serves me correctly, it was probably April time frame last year that we were not able to bring our public folder store online. It just kept erroring out. I ended up having to restore a database from back, take the old store "offline", create a new store, and mount the old database on the new public folder store. This allowed the public folders to be brought back online. This is the part that bothers me. You don't say wheter you did all this on ONE server or on MORE than one. >But, I was not able to actually "delete" the old public folder store, and still can't. Recently, our backup guys discovered that there were errors in the backup logs concerning the full backsups and messages about problems due to that old store being offline. > >I'm just not sure how to force a deletion of the old public store. Maybe it is the metadata in AD that needs to be deleted with ADSI or something? Before you start hacking around in the AD, let's get a better understanding of how many servers you're talking about and whether you have some odd problem of having two MAPI PF hierarchies on the same server. >That is what i'm trying to figure out. Do I need to do something to delete it on the Exchange Server or delete it actually from Active Directory? Let's start by having a look at this AD object: CN=Public Folders,CN=Folder Hierarchies,CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT),CN=Administrative Groups,CN=<ORGNAME>,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=<DOMAIN>,DC=<TLD> How many items are in the "msExchOwningPFTreeBL" property? Are each of them for a different server? How many objects in the AD are there for the objectClass "msExchPublicMDB"? Are there multiples for the same server? --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP

>>And BOTH of the PF stores are on the same server??? If not, for the >>one that's not mounted, what happens if you try to mount it? Two public folders are LISTED under "First Storage Group" but only one has a database actually associated with it. I have one called "ORG Public Folders" and one called "OLD - ORG Public Folders" I could not actually right click and hit "mount store" on the one titled OLD. It was corrupt or something. I had to create a new Public Store instance and associate the existing database with it. >>This is the part that bothers me. You don't say wheter you did all >>this on ONE server or on MORE than one. We have one exchange server locally, but we part of an AD Hierarchy. A child domain. The currently, active public folder store is replicating fine now. I just can't delete the "OLD - ORG Public Folders" instance, even though there is no database associated with it. In response to finding those "Configuration" locations within ADSI, I can't locate them. I can't seem to find a public Folders instance. I tried local "Configuration" connection as well as some of our parent DCs. But, still cant' delete anything.