How to programmatically create a mailbox for an existing user in the Active Directory by using CDOEXM

This article describes how to programmatically create a mailbox for an existing user in the Active Directory directory service by using the Microsoft Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Management (CDOEXM) interfaces.

Some customers have encountered problems with the CreateMailbox function when they try to create mailboxes for existing users in Active Directory. These problems occur on servers that are running either Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003. When they try to create mailboxes, they receive one of the following error messages: These customers have been able to work around this problem by binding explicitly to a domain controller.

Sample code

The following Microsoft VBScript sample code shows how to programmatically create a mailbox for an existing user by using CDOEXM. You must run this sample code on a computer that has the Microsoft Exchange System Manager Tools installed.

1. Create a domain user. However, do not create an Exchange mailbox for the domain user.
2. Create a .vbs file
3. Add the following sample code to the .vbs file.

   Dim oIADSUser
   Dim oMailbox
   
   Set oIADS = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE")
   strDefaultNC = oIADS.Get("defaultnamingcontext")
   'MsgBox FindAnyMDB("CN=Configuration," & strDefaultNC)
   
   'TODO: Use the newly created domain user account to replace the "UserName". 
   Set oIADSUser = GetObject("LDAP://CN=UserName,CN=Users," & strDefaultNC)
   
   If oIADSUser Is Nothing then
   	MsgBox "The oIADSUser is Nothing."
   Else
   	MsgBox "The oIADSUser is created successfully."
   End If
   
   Set oMailBox = oIADSUser
   oMailbox.CreateMailbox FindAnyMDB("CN=Configuration," & strDefaultNC)
   oIADSUser.SetInfo
   
   Function FindAnyMDB(strConfigurationNC)
   	Dim oConnection 
   	Dim oCommand 
   	Dim oRecordSet 
   	Dim strQuery 
   
   	' Open the Connection.
   	Set oConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
   	set oCommand = CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
   	Set oRecordSet = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
   
   	oConnection.Provider = "ADsDSOObject"
   	oConnection.Open "ADs Provider"
   
   	' Build the query to find the private MDB.
   	strQuery = "<LDAP://" & strConfigurationNC & ">;(objectCategory=msExchPrivateMDB);name,adspath;subtree"
   
   	oCommand.ActiveConnection = oConnection
   	oCommand.CommandText = strQuery
   	Set oRecordSet = oCommand.Execute
   
   	' If you have an MDB, return the first one.
   	If Not oRecordSet.EOF Then
   		oRecordSet.MoveFirst
   		FindAnyMDB = CStr(oRecordSet.Fields("ADsPath").Value)
   	Else
   		FindAnyMDB = ""
   	End If
   
   
   	'Clean up.
   	oRecordSet.Close
   	oConnection.Close
   	Set oRecordSet = Nothing
   	Set oCommand = Nothing
   	Set oConnection = Nothing
   End Function
   

4. Search for the TODO text string in the code, and then modify the code for your environment.
5. Run the sample code.

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about CDOEXM, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:For additional information about the CreateMailBox method, visit the following MSDN Web site:For additional information about CDOEXM, see the "CDOEXM" topic in the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server software development kit (SDK).