Connect a Mailbox

  • Article

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

A disconnected mailbox is a mailbox object in the Exchange store that isn't associated with an Active Directory user account. Disconnected mailboxes remain in the Exchange database for the duration specified in the deleted mailbox retention settings for the mailbox database. By default, disconnected mailboxes are retained for 30 days. During this retention period, a mailbox can be recovered by connecting it to a new or existing Active Directory user account.

What Do You Want to Do?

  • Use the EMC to connect a disconnected mailbox
  • Use the Shell to connect a disconnected user mailbox
  • Use the Shell to connect a disconnected linked mailbox
  • Use the Shell to connect a disconnected equipment mailbox
  • Use the Shell to connect a disconnected room mailbox

Use the EMC to connect a disconnected mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Disconnected mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Disconnected Mailbox.
  2. In the result pane, select the disconnected mailbox that you want to reconnect.
  3. In the action pane, click Connect.
  4. On the Introduction page, select one of the following to specify the mailbox type for the mailbox you are connecting:

    • User Mailbox   Click this button to connect the mailbox as a mailbox that is owned by a user to send and receive e-mail messages. User mailboxes cannot be used for resource scheduling.
      The Active Directory account that is associated with a user mailbox must reside in the same forest as the Exchange server. To use an account in a trusted forest, select Linked Mailbox.

    • Room Mailbox or Equipment Mailbox   Click one of these buttons to connect the mailbox as a mailbox that will be used as a location resource for scheduling meetings (room mailbox) or a non-location specific shared resource (equipment mailbox). Room and equipment mailboxes can be included in meeting requests as resources and can be configured to automatically process incoming requests.

      Note

      You can connect a room or equipment mailbox only to a disabled user account. Therefore, the Select Recipient dialog box that you use to select a user account in the Mailbox Settings page of this wizard will display only a list of disabled user accounts in the Active Directory forest.

    • Linked Mailbox   Click this button to connect the mailbox as a user mailbox that is accessed by a user in a separate, trusted forest. To store the mailbox information, you must select a user account in the forest in which the Exchange server resides.
      Linked mailboxes might be required for organizations that choose to deploy Exchange in a resource forest. The resource forest scenario lets an organization centralize Exchange in a single forest, while allowing access to the Exchange organization with user accounts in one or more trusted forests.

  5. On the Mailbox Settings page, configure the following settings:

    • Matching User   Click this button to have Exchange locate a matching user object in Active Directory. Click Browse to open the Select User dialog box. If Exchange locates a matching user, it will appear in this dialog box. Select the user, and then click OK.
      If Exchange cannot find a matching user, you must click Existing User. To locate a user account that matches the mailbox object, Exchange will use the LegacyExchangeDN and DisplayName attributes of the Exchange store mailbox object.

    • Existing User   Click this button if you want to connect the mailbox to a user other than the matching user. Click Browse to see a list of users available in Active Directory. The list will contain only users that do not have an associated mailbox.

      Note

      If you are connecting a room, equipment, or linked mailbox, the Select User dialog box will display only users that are disabled in Active Directory. If you are connecting a user mailbox, the Select User dialog box will display only users that are enabled in Active Directory.

    • Alias   Use this box to type an alias for the mailbox.

    • Managed folder mailbox policy   Select this check box to assign a managed folder mailbox policy to the mailbox. Click Browse to select a policy from a list of available managed folder mailbox policies. For more information, see Deploying Managed Folders.

    • Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy   Select this check box to assign an Exchange ActiveSync policy to the mailbox. Click Browse to select a policy from a list of available Exchange ActiveSync policies. For more information, see Understanding Exchange ActiveSync Mailbox Policies.

  6. If you are connecting a linked mailbox, use the Master Account page to configure the following settings for the mailbox:
    • Trusted forest or domain   Click Browse to open the Select Forest dialog box. Select the forest that contains the master account, and then click OK. This will enable the Browse button next to the Linked domain controller check box.
    • Use the following Window user account to access linked domain controller   Select this check box if you want to specify a different user account. To access the domain controller in the linked forest, you can use a user account other than the one you are currently logged on as. Select the User name and Password check boxes to type the credentials of the user account.
    • Linked domain controller   Click Browse to open the Select Domain Controller dialog box. Select the domain controller you want, and then click OK. Selecting a valid linked domain controller will enable the Browse button next to the Linked master account check box.
    • Linked master account   Click Browse to open the Select Master Account dialog box. Select the user account that you want to use as the master account, and then click OK.
  7. On the Connect Mailbox page, review your configuration settings. Click Connect to associate the disconnected mailbox with the Active Directory user that you selected on the Mailbox Settings page. Click Back to make configuration changes.
  8. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:
    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.
    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.
  9. Click Finish to close the wizard.

Use the Shell to connect a disconnected user mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Disconnected mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example connects the mailbox for John Peoples that resides on the mailbox database MBXDB02. In addition, this command bypasses the messaging records management policy warnings for e-mail clients using versions of Outlook earlier than Outlook 2007.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "John Peoples" -Database "MBXDB02" -User "John Peoples" -ManagedFolderMailboxPolicyAllowed

Use the Shell to connect a disconnected linked mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Disconnected mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example connects a linked mailbox.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "John Peoples" -Database "MBXDB02" -LinkedDomainController FabrikamDC01 -LinkedMasterAccount john@fabrikam.com

Use the Shell to connect a disconnected equipment mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Disconnected mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example connects an equipment mailbox for CAR001 that resides on the MBXResourceDB.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "CAR001" -Database "MBXResourceDB" -Equipment -User "CAR001"

Use the Shell to connect a disconnected room mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Disconnected mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example connects a room mailbox for Conference Room 212 that resides on the database MBXResourceDB.

Connect-Mailbox -Identity "ConfRm212" -Database "MBXResourceDB" -Room -User "Conference Room 212"

Other Tasks

After the mailbox is connected, we recommend that you consider performing the following tasks according to the requirements of your organization:

For More Information

Connect-Mailbox