Move system mailboxes

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Estimated time to complete: 10 minutes

In this step, we'll move a few system mailboxes used to store organization-wide data such as administrator audit logs, metadata for eDiscovery searches, and Unified Messaging data such as menus, dial plans, and custom greetings, to Exchange 2016. If you don't move these system mailboxes, Exchange 2016 cmdlets that are run won't be logged in the administrator audit log, and eDiscovery searches run on Exchange 2016 servers will be queued but won't start.

Move the migration mailbox

Before you can move any other mailboxes to Exchange 2016, you need to move the migration mailbox.

  1. Open the Exchange Management Shell on your Exchange 2016 Mailbox server.

  2. Run the following command to get a list of mailbox databases that are located on your Exchange 2016 servers. Copy the name of the mailbox database where you want to move the migration mailbox to the clipboard.

    Get-MailboxDatabase | Where {$_.AdminDisplayVersion -Like "*15.1*"} | Format-Table Name, ServerName

  3. Run the following command to move the migration mailbox to your Exchange 2016 server. Paste the mailbox database name you copied in the previous step after TargetDatabase.

    New-MoveRequest "Migration.8f3e7716-2011-43e4-96b1-aba62d229136" -TargetDatabase "<mailbox database name>"

How do I know this worked?

To verify that you’ve successfully moved the Microsoft Exchange migration mailbox to a mailbox database located on an Exchange 2016 server, run the following command in the Shell.

Get-Mailbox "Migration.8f3e7716-2011-43e4-96b1-aba62d229136" -Arbitration | Format-List Name, Database, ServerName, AdminDisplayVersion

If the value of the AdminDisplayVersion property is Version 15.1 (Build xxx.xx), this verifies that the migration mailbox resides on a mailbox database that is located on an Exchange 2016 server.

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.

Move the remaining system mailboxes

After you've moved the migration mailbox and verified that the move has completed, you can move the rest of the system mailboxes to Exchange 2016.

  • Go to Recipients > Migration.

  • Click New Add Icon, and then click Move to a different database.

  • On the New local mailbox move page, click Select the users that you want to move, and then click Add Add Icon.

  • On the Select Mailbox page, add the mailboxes that have the following aliases:

    • {#Text:E16MigrateE14orE15SysMbx1f05#}

      SystemMailbox{1f05a927-7bd0-47e5-9b6a-0b5ec3f44403}

    • {#Text:E16MigrateE14orE15FedMbx#}

      FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042

    • {#Text:E16MigrateE14orE15DiscMbx#}

      DiscoverySearchMailbox{D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}

    • {#Text:E16MigrateE14andE15SysMbxe0dc#}

      SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}

    • {#Text:E16MigrateE15SysMbxbb551#}

      SystemMailbox{bb558c35-97f1-4cb9-8ff7-d53741dc928c}

  • Click OK, and then click Next.

  • On the Move configuration page, type the name of the migration batch, and then click Browse next to the Target database box.

  • On the Select Mailbox Database page, add the mailbox database to move the system mailbox to. Verify that the version of the mailbox database that you select is Version 15.1, which indicates that the database is located on an Exchange 2016 server.

  • Click OK, and then click Next.

  • On the Start the batch page, select the options to automatically start and complete the migration request, and then click New.

How do I know this worked?

To verify that you’ve successfully moved the Microsoft Exchange system mailboxes to a mailbox database located on an Exchange 2016 server, run the following command in the Shell.

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | FL Name, Database, ServerName, AdminDisplayVersion

If the value of the AdminDisplayVersion property is Version 15.1 (Build xxx.xx), this verifies that the system mailboxes reside on a mailbox database that is located on an Exchange 2016 server.

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.