Corrupt mailbox - delete / disable old mailbox and create new mailbox

Hi All,

Were running Exchange 2013 SP1

Im looking for some assistance, I have had an issue whereby a users mailbox has corrupted and we have had to restore it from backup. I now have the restored mailbox data back to PST file and I was hoping there would be away that I could detach the user from there existing mailbox, create them a new mailbox and import the recovered data back into it.

Have look around at various options but am struggling and could so with a few pointers, does anyone have any ideas?

Many Thanks

March 13th, 2015 8:16am

Hi All,

Were running Exchange 2013 SP1

Im looking for some assistance, I have had an issue whereby a users mailbox has corrupted and we have had to restore it from backup. I now have the restored mailbox data back to PST file and I was hoping there would be away that I could detach the user from there existing mailbox, create them a new mailbox and import the recovered data back into it.

Have look around at various options but am struggling and could so with a few pointers, does anyone have any ideas?

Many Thanks

Disable the mailbox. ( Make note of the legacy Exchange DN value before doing that)

Create a new one for the user

Add the legacy Exchange DN value as a X500 address to the new mailbox as a Custom Address:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/9052d4f2-4fc1-41ca-9c69-a2470fee118a/how-to-create-x500-address

Import the pst into the mailbox

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607310(v=exchg.150).aspx

New-MailboxImportRequest

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March 13th, 2015 8:31am

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the reply, I may be doing something silly (probably) but when I disable the mailbox for the user. I go to create a new one for them and it simply reattaches them to there old mailbox.

How can I do this so they get a fresh mailbox and not re-associated with the disabled one?

March 13th, 2015 9:01am

How are you creating the new mailbox? 
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March 13th, 2015 9:06am

Incorrectly im guessing!

Via ECP - Add Mailbox - User Mailbox - Existing User - Select the user in question - Click Save

March 13th, 2015 9:09am

Incorrectly im guessing!

Via ECP - Add Mailbox - User Mailbox - Existing User - Select the user in question - Click Save

That should work

Try this:

Enable-Mailbox -Identity Contoso\Ayla

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998251(v=exchg.150).aspx

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March 13th, 2015 10:12am

If you want to delete the mailbox then refer to https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj863440%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx and delete your mailbox in Exchange 2013.

But if your want to access your corrupt Exchange mailbox data then use Kernel for Exchange Server Recovery Software. Refer to http://www.exchangerecoverytools.org to know more about Exchange Recovery Tool.

March 16th, 2015 3:14am

Hi Paul,

I agree with Andys suggestion. We can disable the corrupted mailbox and create a new mailbox to import the restored PST file. To do it, please try the following steps:

1. Disable the mailbox:

Disable-Mailbox Mailbox1

2. Create a new mailbox for it:

Enable-Mailbox Mailbox1@domain.com -Database UsersMailboxDatabase

3. Import PST file to new mailbox:

New-MailboxImportRequest Mailbox1 -FilePath \\server\share\Export.pst -TargetRootFolder /

Then check whether the new mailbox can be used properly.

Regards,

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March 16th, 2015 5:08am

Thanks for your help on this Andy,

As an update to anyone that may stumble across this thread in the future adding the mailbox back to the user by PowerShell command did work:

Enable-Mailbox -Identity Contoso\Ayla

However I did notice that if I did it too quickly regardless of using ECP or PowerShell the user would still be attached to the mailbox that you previously disabled.

I found that waiting around 15 minutes after disabling the mailbox and then using the command ensured that the user was providing with a completely fresh mailbox. I haven't tested this with ECP but I imagine that the problems I had using ECP were simply due to me adding the mailbox to quickly. Im sure there is a logical reason for this that someone with deeper back end Exchange knowledge could confirm like some sort of refresh period etc.

Again thanks for your help everyone..

March 16th, 2015 11:32am

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