Hi, I am trying to uninstall some exchange servers (2K/2K3) who are having some duplicate mailboxes / junk mailboxes. Junk mailboxes are not accessible to move/cut down into pst with Exmerge aslo unable to purge them from ESM. Duplicate mailboxes doesn’t have their own entity so can’t delete them. Exmerge is showing these duplicate mailboxes. Kindly let me know how can I force remove these mailbox store without move/delete these unnecessary mailboxes. How can I delete these duplicate mailboxes. Is there anyway to remove Exchange forcefully without moving all mailboxes. Dhiraj

Hi, Here are few good articles of forcefully removing exchange server : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833396 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260378 http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Remove-Exchange-server-entire-Exchange-organization.html You have to make changed in registry & ADSIEdit so read the article carefully. Ripu Daman Mina | MCSE 2003 & MCSA Messaging

Removing Exchange without removing those mailboxes is simply going to leave a mess. Exchange will still know they are there. Duplicate mailboxes from a move mailbox shouldn't cause the uninstall process to be removed, and the junk mailboxes should be simply removed by mail disabling the accounts and then purging the mailbox store. That will allow you to remove Exchange in a clean manner. While it is possible to remove Exchange by force, it is very easy to make a mistake and if you have multiple Exchange servers, you could easily render a production system inoperable, requiring recovery. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP. http://blog.sembee.co.uk , http://exbpa.com/

Thanks everybody for your reply, I agree with you that it's always better to first remov/move all amilboxes from server before remove it. Now my problem is, it’s showing some duplicate mailboxes which I can’t remove bcoz I can’t see them in ADUC. kindly let me know how to delete these junk duplicate mailbox entries. it seems that some users are mapped with two mailboxes. one is the original mailbox & second, a junk mailbox. now how can I search/delete this junk mailboxes. In ESM Purge option is not enabled. I have tried to search all mailboxes on that server from ADUC à Exchange Home Server but it’s not showing correct details. As per Exchange 2000 M Drive, still 2-3 dummy (having dummy names, not seems system mailboxes) mailboxes are there. Now which command can show me the exact list of mailboxes on that server. Dhiraj

Don't touch the M drive. That is the quickest way to screw up your Exchange server. If the mailboxes are attached to accounts, then you need to remove the exchange attributes for that account. You cannot have a mailbox attached to two accounts at the same time - it is mailbox = account. If you have removed all mailboxes that are shown in ADUC then I would suggest that you attempt to Remove Exchange using add/remove programs. If there are still mailboxes that Exchange is aware of, then it will stop the process. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP. http://blog.sembee.co.uk , http://exbpa.com/

I am not seeing any mailbox in ADUC but still while removing Exchange frm Add-Remov programs, still it's giving message that mailboxes are still connected to this server. now my query is how to search those mailboxes which are not visible in ADUC. Any other process/command to check those mailboxes which are causing this problem on that server. Dhiraj

On Sat, 7 Aug 2010 10:48:48 +0000, DhirajHaritwal wrote: >I am not seeing any mailbox in ADUC but still while removing Exchange frm Add-Remov programs, still it's giving message that mailboxes are still connected to this server. now my query is how to search those mailboxes which are not visible in ADUC. > >Any other process/command to check those mailboxes which are causing this problem on that server. Change the "Find:" drop-down choice from "Users, Contacts, and Groups" to "Exchange Recipients". Uncheck everything except "Users with Exchange mailbox". Select the "Storage" tab and select "Mailboxes on this server". Fill in the appropiate server name and click "Find Now". --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP

Thanks Rich, This has resolved the problem. Dhiraj