Connect or Restore a Disabled Mailbox

A disconnected mailbox is a mailbox object in the Exchange store that isn't associated with an Active Directory user account.
There are two types of disconnected mailboxes:

• Disabled mailboxes   When a mailbox is disconnected or removed by using the Disable-Mailbox or Remove-Mailbox cmdlet, Exchange retains the deleted mailbox, and the mailbox is switched to a disabled state. With disabled mailboxes, you can recover mailbox data without having to restore the entire mailbox database. Disabled mailboxes are retained in the mailbox database until the deleted mailbox retention period expires or until the mailbox is permanently deleted.
  
• Soft-deleted mailboxes   When mailboxes are moved from a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) database to any other database, Exchange doesn't fully delete the mailbox from the source database upon completion of the move. Instead, the mailbox in the source mailbox database is switched to a soft-deleted state. With soft-deleted mailboxes, you can use the MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet set to access mailbox data during a mailbox restore operation. Soft-deleted mailboxes are retained in the source database until either the deleted mailbox retention period expires or until the Remove-StoreMailbox cmdlet is used to purge the mailbox. For more information, see Restore a Soft-Deleted Mailbox.
  

Disabled mailboxes remain in the Exchange database for the duration specified in the deleted mailbox retention settings for the mailbox database. By default, disabled mailboxes are retained for 30 days. During this retention period, a disabled mailbox can be recovered by connecting it to a new or existing Active Directory user account.
Looking for other management tasks related to disconnected mailboxes? Check out Managing Disconnected Mailboxes.

What Do You Want to Do?

• Use the EMC to connect a disabled mailbox
  
• Use the Shell to connect a disabled mailbox
  
• Use the Shell to restore a disabled mailbox
  

Use the EMC to connect a disabled mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Note:
Only disconnected mailboxes that have a disabled status are displayed in the EMC. Soft-deleted mailboxes aren't displayed.

1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Disconnected Mailbox.
   
2. In the result pane, select the disabled mailbox that you want to reconnect.
   
3. In the action pane, click Connect.
   
4. On the Introduction page, select one of the following to specify the mailbox type for the mailbox you're connecting:
   
   • User Mailbox   Click this button to connect the mailbox as a mailbox owned by a user to send and receive e-mail messages. User mailboxes can't be used for resource scheduling.
     The Active Directory account associated with a user mailbox must reside in the same forest as the Exchange server. To use an account in a trusted forest, select Linked Mailbox.
     
   • Room Mailbox or Equipment Mailbox   Click one of these buttons to connect the mailbox as a mailbox that will be used as a location resource for scheduling meetings (room mailbox) or a shared resource (equipment mailbox) that isn't location specific. Room and equipment mailboxes can be included in meeting requests as resources and can be configured to automatically process incoming requests.
     

     Note:
     You can connect a room or equipment mailbox only to a disabled user account. Therefore, the Select Recipient dialog box that you use to select a user account on the Mailbox Settings page of this wizard will display only a list of disabled user accounts in the Active Directory forest.

   • Linked Mailbox   Click this button to connect the mailbox as a user mailbox that's accessed by a user in a separate, trusted forest. To store the mailbox information, you must select a user account in the forest in which the Exchange server resides.
     Linked mailboxes might be required for organizations that choose to deploy Exchange in a resource forest. Using the resource forest scenario, you can centralize Exchange in a single forest, while allowing access to the Exchange organization with user accounts in one or more trusted forests.
     
5. On the Mailbox Settings page, configure the following settings:
   
   • Matching User   Click this button to have Exchange locate a matching user object in Active Directory. Click Browse to open the Select User dialog box. If Exchange locates a matching user, it will appear in this dialog box. Select the user, and then click OK.
     If Exchange can't find a matching user, you must click Existing User. To locate a user account that matches the mailbox object, Exchange uses the LegacyExchangeDN and DisplayName attributes of the Exchange store mailbox object.
     
   • Existing User   Click this button if you want to connect the mailbox to a user other than the matching user. Click Browse to see a list of users available in Active Directory. The list contains only users that don't have an associated mailbox.
     

     Note:
     If you're connecting a room, equipment, or linked mailbox, the Select User dialog box displays only users that are disabled in Active Directory. If you're connecting a user mailbox, the Select User dialog box displays only users that are enabled in Active Directory.

   • Alias   Use this box to type an alias for the mailbox.
     
   • Retention Policy   Select this check box to assign a retention policy to the mailbox. Click Browse to select a policy from a list of available retention policies. For more information, see Understanding Messaging Records Management.
     
   • Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy   Select this check box to assign a Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync policy to the mailbox. Click Browse to select a policy from a list of available Exchange ActiveSync policies. For more information, see Understanding Exchange ActiveSync Mailbox Policies.
     
6. If you're connecting a linked mailbox, use the Master Account page to configure the following settings for the mailbox:
   
   • Trusted forest or domain   Click Browse to open the Select Forest dialog box. Select the forest that contains the master account, and then click OK. This enables the Browse button next to the Linked domain controller check box.
     
   • Use the following Window user account to access linked domain controller   Select this check box if you want to specify a different user account. To access the domain controller in the linked forest, you can use a user account other than the one you're currently logged on as. Select the User name and Password check boxes to type the credentials of the user account.
     
   • Linked domain controller   Click Browse to open the Select Domain Controller dialog box. Select the domain controller you want, and then click OK. Selecting a valid linked domain controller enables the Browse button next to the Linked master account check box.
     
   • Linked master account   Click Browse to open the Select Master Account dialog box. Select the user account that you want to use as the master account, and then click OK.
     
7. On the Connect Mailbox page, review your configuration settings. Click Connect to associate the disconnected mailbox with the Active Directory user that you selected on the Mailbox Settings page. Click Back to make configuration changes.
   
8. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:
   
   • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.
     
   • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.
     

Use the Shell to connect a disabled mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
This example connects the mailbox for John Evans that resides on the mailbox database MBXDB02. In addition, this command bypasses the messaging records management (MRM) policy warnings for e-mail clients using versions of Microsoft Outlook earlier than Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "John Evans" -Database "MBXDB02" -User "John Evans" -ManagedFolderMailboxPolicyAllowed

This example connects a linked mailbox.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "John Evans" -Database "MBXDB02" -LinkedDomainController FabrikamDC01 -LinkedMasterAccount john@fabrikam.com

This example connects an equipment mailbox for CAR001 that resides on the database MBXResourceDB.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "CAR001" -Database "MBXResourceDB" -Equipment -User "CAR001"

This example connects a room mailbox for a conference room (ConfRm212) that resides on the database MBXResourceDB.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "ConfRm212" -Database "MBXResourceDB" -Room -User "Conference Room 212"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Connect-Mailbox.

Use the Shell to restore a disabled mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

Note:
You can't use the EMC to restore a disabled mailbox.

Note:
To create a restore request, you must use the DisplayName, LegacyDN, or MailboxGUID values to identify the disabled mailbox.

1. Use the Get-MailboxStatistics cmdlet to find the display name, legacy distinguished name (DN), or mailbox GUID of the disabled mailbox.
   This example returns the LegacyDN, DisplayName, MailboxGUID, and DisconnectReason values for all mailboxes on mailbox database MBD01 that have a disconnect reason of Disabled.
   
   Get-MailboxStatistics -Database MBD01 | Where { $_.DisconnectReason -eq "Disabled" } | Format-List LegacyDN, DisplayName, MailboxGUID, DisconnectReason
   

2. Use the New-MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet to create the restore request.
   This example restores the disabled mailbox that has the mailbox GUID 1d20855f-fd54-4681-98e6-e249f7326ddd on mailbox database MDB01 to the target mailbox Ayla. This example assumes that the legacy DN of the target mailbox matches the legacy DN of the source mailbox.
   
   New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase "MDB01" -SourceStoreMailbox 1d20855f-fd54-4681-98e6-e249f7326ddd -TargetMailbox Ayla
   

   This example restores the disabled mailbox Tony Smith to the target mailbox tony@contoso.com on the target mailbox database MDB01. The AllowLegacyDNMismatch parameter is used so the source mailbox can be restored to a mailbox that doesn't have the same legacy DN value.
   
   New-MailboxRestoreRequst -SourceDatabase "MDB01" -SourceStoreMailbox "Tony Smith" -TargetMailbox tony@contoso.com -AllowLegacyDNMismatch
   

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see the following topics:

• Get-MailboxStatistics
  
• New-MailboxRestoreRequest
  

Exchange 2010 – Disconnected Mailbox not appearing

Problem:

When a mail-enabled user account is deleted from Active Directory or a mailbox is deleted using the Exchange Management Console, the mailbox should be held as a ‘Disconnected Mailbox’ according to the mailbox retention setting.
However, when you check the ‘Disconnected Mailbox’ node it is empty or does not contain a recently disconnected mailbox.

Solution:

It may take anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour before a disconnected mailbox is listed.
If the mailbox is still not listed you will need to manually run the ‘Clean-MailboxDatabase’ commandlet on the mailbox database.
In this example the mailbox database is called ‘Mailbox Database 0995324840’.
Using the Exchange Management Shell, run the following command:

Clean-MailboxDatabase "Mailbox Database 0995324840"

When finished, the disconnected mailboxes can be found in the ‘Disconnected Mailbox’ node in the Exchange Management Console.

Microsoft Outlook 2010 - Unable to Search in Sub-Folders on a Shared Mailbox

SYMPTOM:When using Instant Search (Ctrl + E) on the root folder of the shared mailbox or any other folder which contains a subfolder, and with the option "All Subfolders" selected in the Scope group, the search does not return any results from a subfolder.
Also using Advanced Find (Ctrl + Shift + F) it is not possible to select the checkbox "Search subfolders" (greyed out) and if you try to select multiple folders in the Select Folder(s) window, following message appears: "The folder you selected does not let you search other folders at the same time. To search other folders, clear the check box next to this folder."

Cause
CAUSE:Limitation with Search in subfolders if "Download shared folders" is enabled in Cached Exchange Mode settings.

Answer/Solution
FIX:Uncheck "Download shared folders" in menu File -> Account Settings -> Change -> More Settings -> Advanced -> Download shared folders.
Else search in each subfolder individually.

Outlook 2010: Executable Switches

Microsoft Office Outlook has a number of command-line switches that allow you to perform a variety of actions. One very useful example of this is the /recycle switch, which was introduced as a default in Outlook 2010. In previous versions, if a user already had an instance of Outlook open and clicked the Outlook icon again, it would open another instance. With the /recycle option, it checks for a current instance of Outlook and if it exists, brings it to the front instead of opening another. Below you will find a number of other useful switches that can be used for efficiency or troubleshooting.

Available switches

Switch	Description
/a	Creates an item with the specified file as an attachment. Example: "c:\program files\microsoft office\office14\outlook.exe" /a "c:\my documents\labels.doc" If no item type is specified, IPM.Note is assumed. Cannot be used with message classes that are not based on Outlook.
/altvba otmfilename	Opens the VBA program specified in otmfilename, instead of %appdata%\microsoft\outlook\vbaproject.otm.  Note    This command line switch is only available if the following Windows registry DWORD value is set to 1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security\EnableAltVba
/c messageclass	Creates a new item of the specified message class (Outlook forms or any other valid MAPI form). Examples: /c ipm.activity creates a Journal entry /c ipm.appointment creates an appointment /c ipm.contact creates a contact /c ipm.note creates an e-mail message /c ipm.stickynote creates a note /c ipm.task creates a task
/checkclient	Prompts for the default manager of e-mail, news, and contacts.
/cleanautocompletecache	Removes all names and e-mail addresses from the Auto-Complete list.
/cleancategories	Deletes any custom category names that you have created. Restores categories to the default names.
/cleanclientrules	Starts Outlook and deletes client-based rules.
/cleanconvongoingactions	Deletes the Conversations Actions Table (CAT). CAT entries for a conversation thread usually expire 30 days after no activity. The command-line switch clears all conversation tagging, ignore, and moving rules immediately stopping any additional actions.
/cleandmrecords	Deletes the logging records saved when a manager or a delegate declines a meeting.
/cleanfinders	Resets all Search Folders in the Microsoft Exchange mailbox for only the first profile opened.
/cleanfreebusy	Clears and regenerates free/busy information. This switch can be used only when you are able to connect to the server that runs Exchange.
/cleanfromaddress	Removes all manually added From entries from the profile.
/cleanmailtipcache	Removes all MailTips from the cache.
/cleanreminders	Clears and regenerates reminders.
/cleanroamedprefs	All previous roamed preferences are deleted and copied again from the local settings on the computer where this switch is used. This includes the roaming settings for reminders, free/busy grid, working hours, calendar publishing, and RSS rules.
/cleanrules	Starts Outlook and deletes client-based and server-based rules.
/cleanserverrules	Starts Outlook and deletes server-based rules.
/cleansharing	Removes all RSS, Internet Calendar, and SharePoint subscriptions from Account Settings, but leaves all the previously downloaded content on your computer. This is useful if you cannot delete one of these subscriptions within Outlook 2010.
/cleansniff	Overrides the programmatic lockout that determines which of your computers (when you run Outlook at the same time) processes meeting items. The lockout process helps prevent duplicate reminder messages. This switch clears the lockout on the computer it is used. This enables Outlook to process meeting items.
/cleansubscriptions	Deletes the subscription messages and properties for subscription features.
/cleanviews	Restores default views. All custom views that you created are lost.
/embedding	Used without command-line parameters for standard OLE co-create.
/f msgfilename	Opens the specified message file (.msg) or Microsoft Office saved search (.oss).
/finder	Opens the Advanced Find dialog box.
/hol holfilename	Opens the specified .hol file.
/ical icsfilename	Opens the specified .ics file.
/importNK2	Imports the contents of an .nk2 file which contains the nickname list that is used by both the automatic name checking and Auto-Complete features.
/importprf prffilename	Starts Outlook and opens/imports the defined MAPI profile (*.prf). If Outlook is already open, queues the profile to be imported on the next clean start.
/launchtraininghelp assetid	Opens a Help window with the Help topic specified in assetid displayed.
/m emailname	Provides a way for the user to add an e-mail name to the item. Only works together with the /c command-line parameter. Example: Outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m emailname
/nopreview	Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off.
/p msgfilename	Prints the specified message (.msg).
/profile profilename	Loads the specified profile. If your profile name contains a space, enclose the profile name in quotation marks (" ").
/profiles	Opens the Choose Profile dialog box regardless of the Options setting on the Tools menu.
/promptimportprf	Same as /importprf except that a prompt appears and the user can cancel the import.
/recycle	Starts Outlook by using an existing Outlook window, if one exists.
/remigratecategories	Starts Outlook and starts the following commands on the default mailbox: Upgrades colored For Follow Up flags to Outlook 2010 color categories. Upgrades calendar labels to Outlook 2010 color categories. Adds all categories used on non-mail items into the Master Category List  Note    This is the same command as Upgrade to Color Categories in each Outlook mailbox properties dialog box.
/resetfolders	Restores missing folders at the default delivery location.
/resetfoldernames	Resets default folder names (such as Inbox or Sent Items) to default names in the current Office user interface language. For example, if you first connect to your mailbox in Outlook by using a Russian user interface, the Russian default folder names cannot be renamed. To change the default folder names to another language, such as Japanese or English, you can use this switch to reset the default folder names after you change the user interface language or install a different language version of Outlook.
/resetformregions	Empties the form regions cache and reloads the form region definitions from the Windows registry.
/resetnavpane	Clears and regenerates the Navigation Pane for the current profile.
/resetquicksteps	Restores the default Quick Steps. All user-created Quick Steps are deleted.
/resetsearchcriteria	Resets all Instant Search criteria so that the default set of criteria is shown in each module.
/resetsharedfolders	Removes all shared folders from the Navigation Pane.
/resettodobar	Clears and regenerates the To-Do Bar task list for the current profile. The To-Do Bar search folder is deleted and re-created.
/restore	Attempts to open the same profile and folders that were open prior to an abnormal Outlook shutdown.
/rpcdiag	Opens Outlook and displays the remote procedure call (RPC) connection status dialog box.
/safe	Starts Outlook without the Reading Pane or toolbar customizations. Both native and managed Component Object Model (COM) add-ins are turned off.
/safe:1	Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off.
/safe:3	Both native and managed Component Object Model (COM) add-ins are turned off.
/select foldername	Starts Outlook and opens the specified folder in a new window. For example, to open Outlook and display the default calendar, use: "c:\program files\microsoft office\office14\outlook.exe" /select outlook:calendar.
/share feed://URL/filename /share stssync://URL /share web://URL/filename	Specifies a sharing URL to connect to Outlook. For example, use stssync://URL to connect a SharePoint list to Outlook.
/sniff	Starts Outlook, forces a detection of new meeting requests in the Inbox, and then adds them to the calendar.
/t oftfilename	Opens the specified .oft file.
/v vcffilename	Opens the specified .vcf file.
/vcal vcsfilename	Opens the specified .vcs file.