How to use the Mbconn utility to generate Active Directory accounts for information store mailboxes

This article describes how to use the Mbconn utility (Mbconn.exe) to generate Active Directory accounts for mailboxes in the information store.

Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 and earlier versions of Exchange Server are able to create user objects in the folder from an information store database by using the DS/IS consistency adjuster. In Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Mbconn.exe provides the same functionality.

The Mbconn.exe performs two tasks. First, it uses information found in a given mailbox store to create an import file (in .ldf format) which can be used to create new accounts in Active Directory. Secondly, you can use Mbconn.exe to connect mailboxes to Active Directory accounts.

Note The Mbconn.exe file is located on the Exchange 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) CD in the \Support\Utils\I386 folder. Always use the version of the Mbconn.exe file that is included with Exchange 2000 SP3 or later. It is best to read the Mbconn.chm file in the same folder. This file contains additional information about the Mailbox Reconnect tool.

To create user accounts from information store objects:

1. Mount the store that contains the mailboxes that you want to extract the account information from.
   
   Note The mailboxes that do not have associated Active Directory user accounts are displayed with a red X when you open Mailboxes under the Database object. If no mailboxes are displayed with a red X, right-click the Mailboxes object, and then click Run Cleanup Agent. When you do so, any mailboxes that do not have an Active Directory account are marked with a red X. If you recently mounted the store, it may take a few minutes before the Cleanup Agent marks the mailboxes as disconnected.
2. Run Mbconn.exe. When you are prompted by the wizard, enter the server and domain controller name, and the database that you want to connect to.
3. On the Actions menu, click Export Users.
4. In the Export Users to LDF File dialog box, click the ellipse (...) next to the Container space to browse to a container in Active Directory where you want to create the user account, and then type the path and file name of the import file (for example, C:\Import.ldf).
5. Click the Advanced button, and then click to clear the default properties that you do not want set. You can also remove the Administrator account or any account that already exists in Active Directory.
6. Click the Generate button to create the import file.
7. At a command prompt, type ldifde -i -f c:\import.ldf. For additional information about the LDIFDE tool, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   237677� Using LDIFDE to import and export directory objects to Active Directory

After all the accounts have been created in Active Directory, run Mbconn.exe again to connect the mailboxes to the new accounts.

To connect mailboxes in the information store to user accounts:

1. Run Mbconn.exe. When you are prompted by the wizard, enter the name of the server and the domain controller, and the database that you want to connect to.
2. On the Actions menu, click Preview All.
3. Click the container in Active Directory where the user accounts were imported to. When the preview is finished, a green check mark is displayed next to each item in the database that it is able to match with an Active Directory account. Verify that the preview information is correct.
4. On the Actions menu, click Apply.

The mailboxes are now connected to the Active Directory accounts.

Additional information about the .ldf file import process

If the import process fails with an error, the LDIFDE import stops with an error. User accounts that are imported before the error occurred are successfully created. The user account that has the error line and all subsequent user accounts do not import. To create the user account that has the error line and all subsequent user accounts, follow these steps:

1. Use Mbconn.exe to reconnect the user accounts that were successfully created before the import error occurred.
2. Run Mbconn.exe again, but generate the .ldf file by using a different file name.
3. Try to import the .ldf file again. If the same error is exported, the LDIFDE import should fail on line 1.
4. Use Notepad.exe to open the .ldf file.
5. Properties that have blank values will cause the import procedure to fail. Either remove the lines that have blank values, or add the correct values.
   
   Note You may also just skip the user account during the import process. To do this, remove the multiple lines that define the properties for the user account. Each set of user account properties is divided from the next set by a blank line.
6. Save the .ldf file.
7. Try to import the .ldf file again. If any errors occur, repeat steps 1 through 6.