Tip: Quickly Recover Deleted Mailboxes in Exchange Server 2007

When you delete a mailbox from a user account, the mailbox is retained as a disconnected mailbox according to the mailbox retention setting. You can reconnect the mailbox to the original user account or another user account, if necessary. Likewise, when you delete a user account and the related mailbox, the mailbox is retained as a disconnected mailbox according to the mailbox retention setting. You can connect the mailbox to an existing user account, if necessary.
To recover a deleted mailbox, complete the following steps:
1. In Exchange Management Console, expand the Recipient Configuration node, and then select the related Disconnected Mailbox node.
2. Deleted mailboxes are listed by the mailbox user’s display name, storage group, and mailbox database. Right-click the deleted mailbox you want to recover, and then select Connect. This starts the Connect Mailbox Wizard.
Note that deleted mailboxes aren’t necessarily marked as such immediately. It may take 15 minutes to an hour before the mailbox is marked as deleted and listed accordingly.

Tips RSS Feed

Subscribe to the TechNet Magazine Tips RSS feed.

3. On the Introduction page, select the type of mailbox you are recovering, and then click Next. The available options are: User Mailbox, Room Mailbox, Equipment Mailbox, and Linked Mailbox.
4. On the Mailbox Settings page, select Existing User, and then click Browse. Use the Select User dialog box to select the user account with which you want to associate the mailbox, and then click OK. You can connect a disconnected mailbox to a user account only if the account doesn’t already have a mailbox associated with it.
If you previously removed the mailbox, rather than disabling it, the user account associated with the mailbox was deleted as well. Because each user account has a unique security identifier associated with it, you can’t simply re-create the user account to get back the same set of permissions and privileges. That said, however, if you want to connect the mailbox to a user account with the same name, you can do this by re-creating the account in Active Directory Users And Computers. The account will then be available when you select Existing User and click Browse.
5. The Exchange alias is set to the logon name by default. You can change this value by entering a new alias. The Exchange alias is used to set the user’s e-mail address.
6. Click Next, and then click Connect.

You can use the connect-Mailbox cmdlet to perform the same task using the following syntax:
Syntax

connect-Mailbox -Identity 'OrigMailboxIdentity'
-Database 'DatabaseIdentity'
-User 'NewUserIdentity'
[-ActiveSyncMailboxPolicy 'PolicyId'] [-Alias 'Alias']
[-DisplayName 'Name'] [-DomainController 'DCName']
[-ManagedFolderMailboxPolicy 'PolicyId']
[-ManagedFolderMailboxPolicyAllowed <$false|$true> ]
[-Equipment <$false|$true> ] [-Room <$false|$true> ]

Usage

connect-Mailbox -Identity 'Molly Dempsey'
-Database 'CORPSVR127\First Storage Group\Accounting DB'
-User 'CPANDL\mollyd'
-Alias 'mollyd' 

From the Microsoft Press book Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant, Second Edition by William R. Stanek.

Looking for More Tips?

For more Exchange Server tips, visit the TechNet Magazine Exchange Server 2007 Tips page.

For more Tips on other products, visit the TechNet Magazine Tips index.