When we recreate — System Mailbox , FederatedEmail & DiscoverySearchMailbox in Exchange 2010 ?
- DC crashes
- If the Default Database is Deleted these maiboxes will go Orphaned
- System mailboxes go Corrupted
You Could See these (System Mailbox , FederatedEmail & DiscoverySearchMailbox) in Active Directory Users Container by Default
System mailboxes are created by Exchange in the root domain of the Active Directory forest during installation. Users or administrators can’t log on to these mailboxes. System mailboxes are created for Exchange 2010 features such as message approval and Multi-Mailbox Search. This table lists information about system mailboxes as they’re displayed in Active Directory.
How to Verify these mailboxes are available and its active or not
Running in Exhcange Management Shell
Get-mailbox -arbitration
Should Show up SystemMailbox and FederatedEmail
If your not Seeing this , It means they are not enabled
Now Let us learn how to recreate them and Enable them
For Example I would Delete this Mailboxes from Users Container – in Active Directory Users and Computers
Now We need the Setup CD inorder to recreate them “Same Version of Setup ”
Open Command Prompt
Browsed into the Setup location , Run
Setup.com /prepareAd
This would Create System Mailboxes , FederatedEmail & DiscoverySearchMailbox
Running
Setup.com /Preparead
It should create them .But Until you Enable them, They won’t work
Now we got to Collect the SystemMailboxe and FederatedEmail and DiscoverySearchMailbox Exact GUID names inorder to Enable them
Now I have the values my my Environment
For Example –
System Mailbox GUID values
SystemMailbox{1f05a927-6a9b-4101-abd2-70838d0c8e86}
SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}
FederatedEmail GUID values
FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042
DiscoverySearchMailbox GUID values
DiscoverySearchMailbox {D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}
Now We Got to Enable them –Â (Real time you got to use your own GUID value)
Enabling System Mailboxes
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration "SystemMailbox{Guid Value1}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration "SystemMailbox{Guid Value2}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration "FederatedEmail.Guid Value"
Enable-Mailbox - Discovery "DiscoverySearchMailbox {Guid Value}"
For Example I ran-
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration "SystemMailbox{1f05a927-6a9b-4101-abd2-70838d0c8e86}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration "SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration "FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042"
Enable-Mailbox - Discovery "DiscoverySearchMailbox {D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}"
Now to Verify If you Did the Right thing
Running this – It should show up your System Mailboxes , FederatedEmail
Great !!
You learnt how to recreate System Mailbox , FederatedEmail & DiscoverySearchMailbox in Exchange 2010 Server
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is there any effects if i move these accounts to another OU in active directory ?
You can safely Move it.
Make sure the destination OU have proper permissions and its not restricted via Any Group Policy
Very interesting topic , regards for posting .
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Thank you for your comments
Thank you for detailed explanation. It worked for me.
Happy for you Mohammed !
I really like it whenever people get together and share thoughts.
Great site, continue the good work!
Thanks Michael !
Is this workaround applicable if the arbitration mailboxes are corrupted and in inconsistent state?
Its the only fix.
So very clear and concise!! This helped me out big time! Thank you for taking the time!
your welcome Chad !
Thank you for your comments Chad .
Tthank you, help me after a Exchange server crash.
Just finished installing exchange 2010 along side exchange 2003. created a test user on 2010. This user can send to users on 2003 and outside but can not receive from 2003 nor from outside. Please help.
Check for routing group connectors
Get-routinggroupconnector
Thanks a lot. And I wish you have been the best in your way of Exchange engineer))
Thank you
Thank you so much for the great and easy explanation. We migrated from 2007 to 2010 a while ago and never used Discovery Search Mailbox, I tried to use it two days ago and I got an error saying it’s deleted, I checked it, it’s there, but when I run Exchange Powershell it’s shown as UserMailBox instead of DiscoveryMailBox, even though it’s shown in Exchange Console as DiscoveryMailBox.
Please, help.
Thanks!!!
Run Setup.exe /preparead it should create them . if its been deleted
Thank you so much for the great and easy explanation. We migrated from 2007 to 2010 a while ago and never used Discovery Search Mailbox, I tried to use it two days ago and I got an error saying it’s deleted, I checked it, it’s there, but when I run Exchange Powershell it’s shown as UserMailBox instead of DiscoveryMailBox, even though it’s shown in Exchange Console as DiscoveryMailBox. How to fix this issue?
Please, help.
Thanks!!!
Good day.
We have lost our 3 system mailboxes on Exch 2010. Running setup.com/PrepareAD runs fine and finishes without error, but NO accounts are created.
We installed the 1st Exch 2010 server on version of plain Exch 2010. Then we loaded SP1, then Sp2 and SP3.
I am running the setup.com/PrepareAD from the SP3 DVD Microsoft disc.
Should I run it from the original Exch 2010 version we used to install the system ?
Nope. I guess its not completing.
Try running from a domain controller
Hello, please tell me, these arbitration mailboxes exists on all exchange databases or exists in the root domain for all?
Satheshwaran Manoharan, your documents always help me alot, recently my admin delete unintentionally deleted artibation mailboxes actual i have separate database for such mailboxes and that drive format by my admin, after that OAB is not working correctly as well as we are unable to search users in Lync so what i believer that the reason behind all such issue. we have such system account in AD but their mailboxes are not available so do i only need to run enable command from exchange shell. we are using exchange 2013
if you prepareAD again . it should create themselves again.
Hi Satheshwaran,
Does this work for 2013 SP1, too?
Thanks,
Steven
Yes
Hi Satheshwaran Manoharan
Your article was very helpful and i have the exact same issue which i am trying to resolve. Using the above command and process to recreate the exchange accounts i guess would need to be done out of hours and any other precautions that need to be done or to know. Would this bring the exchnage server down.
It wont cause any issues. you can do it anytime.
I have a production 2010 exchange enviroment and a new tasking to search mailboxes for particular data. I dont have the system mailboxes in ADUC or exchange.
I tried to run the setup.com/prepare ad on my exch server and dc.
I am getting: The well-known object entry B:32:B3DDC6BE2A3BE84B97EB2DCE9477E389:CN=Help DeskADEL:324173d0-99c6-4437-9750-821aad8701ba on the otherWellKnownObjects attribute in the container object CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration points to an invalid DN or a deleted object. Remove the entry, and then rerun the task.
Have you seen this before?
Go to adsiedit.msc and clear the invalid entries. Take system state backup before you touch adsiedit. location is there in the error.
Hi,is there any effects if i move these accounts to another Database in Exchange server ?
no effects as such . they have to be accessible.
Hi Sathish,
1.My Test-Mailflow results always failure in my Production Exchange .. i think my System mailbox Corrupted..
if i run Setup.com /prepareAd will there be any impact on Production ??
No, It wont
Hi,
My Test-Mailflow results always failure in production . if in run setup.com /preparead will impact on production ??
No, It wont
Satheshwaran Manoharan, you rock man.
Your article post was in Jan 2012 and you still respond to posts over 3 1/2 years later! WOW dude.
Good article BTW. I found it today for an issue I’m having. Keep up the good work!
ha ha . Thank you Dave. I have most of my articles up-to date. As i refer them. for my work as well.
Hi,
Thank you for posting such a very useful article. I Just need to confirm that should i run setup.com /PrepareAd on child domain controllers as well? because after successfully created arbitration users on forest domain i get error on enable-mailbox command that the xyz arbitration user not found on (mychilddomain).
if you have multiple domains . Use preparealldomains from the root domain
Thanks for this post Satheshwaran. I had to Disable and then Enable the discovery search because of some errors when I was trying to update to Exchange 2010 SP3. I ran the following and it all worked.
Disable-Mailbox “DiscoverySearchMailbox {D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}”
Enable-Mailbox “DiscoverySearchMailbox {D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}” -Arbitration
Add-MailboxPermission -Identity:”cosp.internal/Users/DiscoverySearchMailbox {D919BA05-46A6-415f-80AD-7E09334BB852}” -User:”Discovery Management” -AccessRights:”FullAccess”
When I run Get-Mailbox -Arbitration I can see the discovery mailbox, however I cannot see this mailbox in the exchange management console, where I was able to see it before disabling/enabling. Also I see the discovery search mailbox in the disconnected mailbox list. Any idea how to get it back into the GUI or it doesnt matter? Thanks!
Had a problem with corrupted system accounts caused “#550 5.2.0 Resolver.MT.NoArbitrationAddress; No arbitration address for approval process ##”
As per the many sets of instruction I deleted the system accounts. When I run setup.com /preparead it says copying files and then stops. Never does the copy never recreates accounts. I checked the versions and both echange and the setup.com are the same 14.01.0270.001
Any other fixes for setup not running?
Hi David Mickelson,
were you able to solve your issue?
I have the same problem:”When I run setup.com /preparead it says copying files and then stops. No accounts are created”
Any feedback will be appreciated
Thanks
Thanks for the nice article. I am having a challenge were some of these accounts are pointing to my DR site when I run get-mailbox -arbitration:
FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8..
SystemMailbox{1f05a927..
SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29..
does it matter where they are pointing?
It shouldn’t cause any issues.
Hi, great article!
Thank you
However, I have an exchange 2010 SP3 with Update Rollup 11.
What media CD shall I use to launch the Setup.com /prepareAd?
Can I only take the exchange 2010 SP3 media or must I take the latest version of setup.com coming with RU11?
Thanks for the feedback
Sp3 should do the needful.
Nice informative article, well presented and easy on the eye.
My Exchange 2010 is a child in the forest, i might have (i did) deleted the first Mailbox and Arbitration mailboxes…..do i have to get my mates in HQ to run the Setup.com /prepareAd
(in the root and with exchange forest admin rights)..or can i do it on our subdomain Exchange??
You rock dude!!! I recently got a request to perform eDiscovery and noticed that the system mailboxes are missing but the discovery search mailbox is still present. I’m considering following the steps you’d provided but I have a few questions. Also, I just verified that I only have federateemail by running get-mailbox – arbitration.
1. Do I run the command in my exchange server or domain controller?
2. Do I use the exchange server DVD?
3. What’s the impact in production? Is this an off-hour task or can it run during production hours?
Thanks in advance.
You rock dude!!! I recently got a request to perform eDiscovery and noticed that the system mailboxes are missing but the discovery search mailbox is still present. I’m considering following the steps you’d provided but I have a few questions. Also, I just verified that I only have federatedemail by running get-mailbox – arbitration.
1. Do I run the command in my exchange server or domain controller?
2. Do I use the exchange server DVD?
3. What’s the impact in production? Is this an off-hour task or can it run during production hours?
Thanks in advance.
Run on Schema master AD. if AD tools are installed in Exchange. and Exchange in Same site of Schema Master.
Yes you can do it on exchange.
Yes need Exchange setup files. same version you are running.
no impact on production.
Great!
I had followed all step and my issue was resolved.
Thanks for your support.
Thank you