Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-23

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Management Shell to disable the mailbox of an existing Active Directory user object in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. This task removes all the Exchange attributes from the user object in Active Directory. Based on the deleted items retention policy, the Exchange store will retain mailbox data for the user object.

Looking for other management tasks related to user mailboxes? Check out Managing User Mailboxes.

Use the EMC to disable a 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.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Mailbox.

  2. In the result pane, select the mailbox that you want to disable.

  3. In the action pane, under the name of the mailbox, click Disable.

  4. A warning appears asking, Are you sure you want to disable 'mailbox name'? Click Yes to disable the mailbox.

Use the Shell to disable a 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 disables the mailbox for john@contoso.com.

Copy Code 
Disable-Mailbox john@contoso.com

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