XADM: Granting Access to Mailboxes through the Exchange Administrator Program and MMC

The ability to open another user's mailbox to read or send mail can be granted either in the Exchange Client, in the Exchange Administrator program, or in the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in (Exchange 2000).

An administrator may want to grant permissions to a special mailbox that will be checked by different people, such as a sales or support account.

Before granting permissions to other Microsoft Windows NT accounts for a particular mailbox, verify that the Permissions page is available for all objects:

Exchange Server 4.0, 5.0, and 5.5

1. Start the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. Click the Permissions tab.
4. Make sure that both the Show Permissions Page for All Objects check box and the Display Rights for Roles on Permissions Page check box are selected.

Next, choose the mailbox that needs to be opened by an additional user.

1. Select the Recipients container, and then select the mailbox.
2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. Click the Permissions tab.
4. In the Windows NT accounts with Permissions dialog box, click Add.
5. Select the Windows NT account to which you want to give access to the mailbox. Click Add, and then click OK.

Now you are ready to open the mailbox in the client:

1. On the Tools menu, click Services.
2. Double-click Microsoft Exchange Server.
3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Add.
4. Type the name of the mailbox that you want to open.

The mailbox will now open in a new window.

Exchange 2000

1. Start the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in.
2. On the View menu, make sure that a check mark appears next to the Advanced Features command.
3. Locate the Organizational Unit that contains the user who owns the mailbox that you want to allow other users to view.
4. Right-click the user that owns the mailbox, and then click Properties.
5. On the Exchange Advanced tab, click Mailbox Rights.
6. Click Add.
7. Select the user or users that you want to allow to use the mailbox, and then assign them Full Mailbox Access - Allow permission.