How to Upgrade Outlook Direct Booking Resource Mailboxes to Exchange 2007

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic explains how to upgrade Microsoft Outlook direct booking resource mailboxes. A resource mailbox is a mailbox that represents conference rooms and company equipment. Resource mailboxes are used for conference room or equipment scheduling. Outlook direct booking resource mailboxes allow you to schedule resources without sending a meeting request. This enables you to schedule appointments in a resource calendar without being logged on to the resource account's mailbox.

Upgrading Outlook direct booking resource mailboxes to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 involves three steps:

  1. Use Outlook 2003 to change resource scheduling options.

  2. Move the resource mailboxes from the Exchange Server 2003 server to an Exchange 2007 server that has the Mailbox server role installed.

  3. Convert the Outlook direct booking resource mailbox to an Exchange 2007 resource mailbox.

Before You Begin

To perform this procedure, the account you use must be delegated the following:

  • Exchange Server Administrators group

  • Membership in the local Administrators group

For more information about permissions, delegating roles, and the rights that are required to administer Exchange 2007, see Permission Considerations.

Procedure

To upgrade Outlook direct booking resource mailboxes to Exchange 2007

  1. In the Outlook 2003 direct booking resource mailbox, perform the following steps:

    1. From the Tools menu, click Options.

    2. In Options, click Calendar Options.

    3. In Calendar Options, click Resource Scheduling.

    4. In Resource Scheduling, clear the Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations check box.

    5. Click Set Permissions, click the Permissions tab, and then change the Default permission from Author to None. This action prevents users from logging on to the mailbox directly. You can set the Default permission to Reviewer if you want to allow users to view the full details of meetings that are scheduled for the resource.

  2. Use the Exchange Management Shell or the Exchange Management Console to move the Outlook 2003 direct booking resource mailboxes from the Exchange 2003 server to an Exchange 2007 server that has the Mailbox server role installed. For detailed instructions, see the following topics:

    Note

    Moving an Exchange 2003 resource mailbox to an Exchange 2007 server in another forest is not supported.

  3. Convert the Outlook 2003 direct booking resource mailbox to an Exchange 2007 resource mailbox. To do this, run the following command:

    set-Mailbox -Identity:<resourcename> -Type:Room
    

    Note

    In this command, replace <resourcename> with the name of the resource. For example, use ConfRoom1.

  4. Configure the mailbox calendar settings. To do this, run the following command:

    Set-MailboxCalendarSettings -Identity <resourcename> -AutomateProcessing AutoAccept
    

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see the following topics:

Set-Mailbox

Set-MailboxCalendarSettings

For More Information

To learn more about resource mailboxes in Exchange 2007, see Understanding Recipients.

For more information about managing resource mailboxes in Exchange 2007, see Managing Resource Mailboxes.