Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
Topic Last Modified: 2011-03-19
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
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. |
- In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration
> Disconnected Mailbox.
- In the result pane, select the disabled mailbox that you want
to reconnect.
- In the action pane, click Connect.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- A status of Completed indicates that the wizard
completed the task successfully.
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.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
Connect-Mailbox -Identity "John Evans" -Database "MBXDB02" -User "John Evans" -ManagedFolderMailboxPolicyAllowed |
This example connects a linked mailbox.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
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.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
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.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
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. |
- Use the Get-MailboxStatistics cmdlet to find the display
name, legacy distinguished name (DN), or mailbox GUID of the
disabled mailbox.
This example returns theLegacyDN
,DisplayName
,MailboxGUID
, andDisconnectReason
values for all mailboxes on mailbox database MBD01 that have a disconnect reason ofDisabled
.
Copy Code Get-MailboxStatistics -Database MBD01 | Where { $_.DisconnectReason -eq "Disabled" } | Format-List LegacyDN, DisplayName, MailboxGUID, DisconnectReason
- 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.
Copy Code New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceDatabase "MDB01" -SourceStoreMailbox 1d20855f-fd54-4681-98e6-e249f7326ddd -TargetMailbox Ayla
Copy Code New-MailboxRestoreRequst -SourceDatabase "MDB01" -SourceStoreMailbox "Tony Smith" -TargetMailbox tony@contoso.com -AllowLegacyDNMismatch
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see the following topics:
Other Tasks
After the mailbox is connected, we recommend that you configure anti-spam features. For detailed steps, see Configure Anti-Spam Features on a Mailbox.