Convert a mailbox in Exchange Server

  • Article

In Exchange Server 2013 or later, converting a mailbox from one type of mailbox to another is mostly unchanged from the experience in Exchange 2010. You still need to use the Set-Mailbox cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell to do the conversion.

You can convert the following mailboxes to a different type:

  • User mailbox to room or equipment mailbox

  • User mailbox to shared mailbox

  • Shared mailbox to user mailbox

  • Shared mailbox to room or equipment mailbox

  • Room or equipment mailbox to user mailbox

  • Room or equipment mailbox to shared mailbox

Note

If your organization uses a hybrid Exchange environment, you need to manage your mailboxes by using the on-premises Exchange management tools. To convert a mailbox in a hybrid environment, you might need to move the mailbox back to on-premises Exchange, convert the mailbox type, and then move it back to Microsoft 365 or Office 365.

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • Estimated time to complete: 5 minutes.

  • Room, equipment, and shared mailboxes have associated user accounts in Active Directory, but the accounts are disabled. When you convert one of these mailbox types to a regular (user) mailbox, you need to specify a password that satisfies the length and complexity requirements for your organization.

    Overwriting an existing password requires the Reset Password role, which isn't assigned to any role groups by default. To assign the role to a role group that you belong to, see Add a role to a role group. Note that changes in permission require you to log off and log on for the changes to take effect.

  • When you convert a regular (user) mailbox to a room, equipment, or shared mailbox, the associated account is disabled.

    For room mailboxes, you can enable the associated user account, which also requires you to specify a password (which requires the Reset Password role). You need to enable the room mailbox user account for features like the Skype for Business Room System.

  • To learn how to open the Exchange Management Shell in your on-premises Exchange organization, see Open the Exchange Management Shell.

  • You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Recipients Permissions topic.

  • For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard shortcuts in the Exchange admin center.

Tip

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

Use the Exchange Management Shell to convert a mailbox

To convert a mailbox to a different type, use this syntax:

Set-Mailbox -Identity <MailboxIdentity> -Type <Regular | Room | Equipment | Shared> [-Password (Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString)] [-EnableRoomMailboxAccount <$true | $false>] [-RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String '<Password>' -AsPlainText -Force)] [-ResetPasswordOnNextLogon <$true | $false>]

This example converts the shared mailbox named Marketing Dept 01 to a user mailbox. You're prompted to enter the password, and the user is required to change their password the next time they log in to the mailbox.

Set-Mailbox -Identity "Marketing Dept 01" -Type Regular -Password (Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString) -ResetPasswordOnNextLogon $true

This example converts the user mailbox named Conference Room 01 to a room mailbox.

Set-Mailbox -Identity "Conference Room 01" -Type Room

This is the same example, but the user account for the room mailbox is enabled, and the password is P@ssw0rd25

Set-Mailbox -Identity "Conference Room 01" -Type Room -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'P@ssw0rd25' -AsPlainText -Force)

Note: Even when you convert a user mailbox with a known password to a room mailbox, you still need to use the RoomMailboxPassword parameter to specify a password.

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

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully converted a mailbox, replace <MailboxIdentity> with the name, alias, or email address of the mailbox, and run this command in the Exchange Management Shell to verify the property values:

Get-Mailbox -Identity <MailboxIdentity> | Format-List Name,RecipientTypeDetails,UserPrincipalName,AccountDisabled

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