Topic Last Modified: 2009-03-27
This topic explains how to work around an issue in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in which mailbox display names are not created according to the value of the createDialog attribute of the displaySpecifiers class in the Active Directory directory service. This issue occurs when you use Exchange Management Console to create a new Active Directory user account. The workaround uses Active Directory User and Computers to create a new user account.
When you create a new mailbox in Exchange Management Console on a Windows Server 2003-based computer that is running Exchange 2007, you can also create a new Active Directory user account. However, the Display Name and Full Name fields of the new user account are always generated in the format FirstName LastName, regardless of the value that is set for the createDialog attribute in the DisplaySpecifiers node of Active Directory.
This behavior occurs because Exchange 2007 Exchange Management Console does not recognize the value of the createDialog attribute of objects that have a displaySpecifier class.
To work around this behavior, use Active Directory Users and Computers to create Active Directory user accounts instead of using Exchange Management Console. Then, use the Existing user option in Exchange Management Console to create a mailbox for the user account.
More Information
By default, when a new user or contact object is created in Active Directory, the value of the Full name field is always populated in the format FirstName LastName. Additionally, the Display Name field is populated in the format FirstName LastName. Therefore, the global address list is formatted FirstName LastName.
If you want the Full Name and Display Name to be in a different format, you can use an Active Directory editor such as Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) Edit to change the way the Display Name field is built. When you use ADSI Edit to change the way the Display Name field is built, the Full Name field is also changed, and users appear in the changed format when you view Active Directory Users and Computers.
For more information about how to change the Display Name field, see the TechNet topic Default display name modified.