Room mailbox unexpectedly disappears from an Outlook 2010 meeting invite

When you use Microsoft Outlook 2010 to organize a meeting and invite a Microsoft Exchange Server resource (room) mailbox to the meeting, all resource mailboxes that you added to the meeting unexpectedly disappear.

Note This problem only occurs when the Room Finder is visible.

This problem occurs when the primary SMTP address of a resource mailbox that you add to the meeting contains an ampersand (&) character. For example, the SMTP address is R&DLab@contoso.com.

Use one of the following methods to resolve this problem.

Method 1: Install a hotfix update

To resolve this problem, install the following hotfix package:

2687392 Description of the Outlook 2010 hotfix package (Outexum-x-none.msp): August 28, 2012 

Method 2: Hide the Room Finder

To hide the room finder, click the Room Finder in the Options section of the Ribbon on the meeting item.

Method 3: Remove the ampersand character from the primary SMTP address of the resource mailbox

Contact the administrator for your organization to have them remove the ampersand character from the primary SMTP address of the resource mailbox.

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