How to recover or restore a single mailbox in Exchange 2000 Server

This step-by-step article describes how to recover or restore a single mailbox in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server. This article discusses two methods that you can use to recover or to restore a mailbox.

If deletion retention settings are configured for mailboxes, and the time that deleted mailboxes can remain on the server is not yet expired, you can recover individual or multiple mailboxes by using Exchange System Manager.

If you delete a mailbox, and retention settings for deleted items are not configured for mailboxes, or if the time that deleted mailboxes can remain on the server has expired, you can recover mailboxes to an alternate or recovery server from a backup, without any interruption to your production environment.

Method 1: Restore a Mailbox by Using Exchange System Manager

Use this method if the retention settings for deleted items are configured for mailboxes, and the time that deleted mailboxes can remain on the server has not yet expired.

Verify or Configure Mailbox Deletion Settings

To verify or configure mailbox deletion settings, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand Administrative Groups, and then expand AdministrativeGroupName.
3. Expand Servers, expand ServerName, and then expand StorageGroupName.
4. Right-click Mailbox Store, and then click Properties.
5. Click the Limits tab.
6. In the Keep deleted mailboxes for (days) box, specify the number of days that deleted items can remain on the server before they are permanently deleted, and then click OK.

Restore a Mailbox by Using Exchange System Manager

To restore a mailbox by using Exchange System Manager, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
2. Expand Administrative Groups, and then expand AdministrativeGroupName.
3. Expand Servers, expand ServerName, and then expand StorageGroupName.
4. Expand Mailbox Store, right-click Mailboxes, and then click Run Cleanup Agent.
5. Right-click the mailbox that you want to recover, and then click Reconnect.
6. In the list of Active Directory accounts that appear, click the user account that you want the mailbox to connect to, and then click OK.
7. Quit Exchange System Manager.

Method 2: Restore a Mailbox from Backup to a Recovery Server

Use this method if a mailbox is deleted and retention settings are not configured for mailboxes, or if the time that deleted mailboxes can remain on the server has expired.

To recover a mailbox from backup, you require a recovery server that has enough storage capacity to install Exchange 2000 and to restore the whole private information store database. This server can be on the same physical network as your production Exchange 2000 computer.

To restore a mailbox from backup to a recovery server, follow these steps:

1. Make a note of the following information that appears on the production Exchange 2000 computer:
   • Organization name
   • Administrative Group name
   • Storage Group name
   • Mailbox Store (ServerName)
2. Install Microsoft Windows 2000 Server on the recovery server, and then create an Active Directory forest.
   
   Note that only one Exchange organization is permitted per Active Directory forest.
3. Install and configure DNS. For more information about how to install and configure DNS, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   322856 How to configure DNS to use with Exchange Server
4. Run the Exchange 2000 Server Setup program by using the /forestprep option. Use the same name as your existing Exchange organization to create a new organization. For more information about the /forestprep option, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   312371 How to prepare the forest by using ForestPrep in Exchange 2000 Server
5. Run the Exchange 2000 Server Setup program again using the /domainprep option. For more information about the /domainprep option, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   312407 Requirements for preparing Windows domains for Exchange Server 2003 or for Exchange 2000 Server
6. Note the following:
   
   Important By default, when the first Exchange 2000 computer is installed that is not an upgrade from an existing Microsoft Server Exchange 5.5 computer or that is not joined to an Exchange 5.5 site, an Administrative Group named First Administrative Group is created. If the server is a result of an upgrade from Exchange 5.5 or is joined to an Exchange 5.5 site, the name of the Administrative Group uses the name of the Exchange 5.5 site. To recover this database, the legacyExchangeDN attribute must match that of the production server. If the names do not match, the database does not mount, and the following event is logged in the application event log:

   Event Type: Error
   Event Source: MSExchangeIS
   Event Category: General
   Event ID: 1088
   Description:
   The information store could not be loaded because the distinguished name (DN) /O=MICROSOFT/OU=Exchange55Site/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN= of message database "First Storage Group\Public Folder Store (SERVER1)" does not match the DN of directory /O=MICROSOFT/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=. The database may have been restored to a computer that is in an organization or site different from the original database.

   Choose one of the following options, depending on your situation:
   • If the name of your Administrative Group is "First Administrative Group" (without the quotation marks), go to Step 7.
   • To install Exchange 2000 into an Administrative Group other than the "First Administrative Group" (without the quotation marks), follow these steps:
     1. Run the Exchange 2000 Server Setup program and install Microsoft Exchange System Management Tools.
        
        Important At this point, do not install Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Services. Type the name of your Administrative Group that is the same name as the Administrative Group on your production server.
     2. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
     3. Right-click your organization, and then click Properties.
     4. Click the General tab, click to select the Display administrative groups check box, and then click OK.
     5. Quit and then restart Exchange System Manager.
     6. Right-click Administrative Groups, point to New, and then click Administrative Group.
     7. In the Name box, type the name of your Administrative Group, and then click OK.
        
        Important You must use the same name as the name of the Administrative Group on your production Exchange 2000 computer.
     8. Quit Exchange System Manager.
7. Run the Exchange 2000 Server Setup program, install Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Service, and then install Microsoft Exchange System Management Tools if the Exchange System Management Tools are not already installed on the server.
8. Configure the Storage Group name to use the same name as the production Exchange 2000 computer. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
   2. Expand Administrative Groups, and then expand AdministrativeGroupName.
   3. Expand Servers, and then expand ServerName.
      
      If the name of the Storage Group on the production server uses a name other than "First Storage Group" (without the quotation marks), configure the Storage Group name to use the same name as the Storage Group on the production Exchange 2000 computer.
   4. Expand the Storage Group that contains the Mailbox Store that you want to recover. The Mailbox Store name on the recovery server must match the name of the Mailbox Store on the production server. By default, the name of the Mailbox Store is "Mailbox Store (ServerName)" (without the quotation marks). Configure the Mailbox Store name on the recovery server to use the same name as the Mailbox Store on the production Exchange 2000 computer.
9. Make sure that the recovery server has the same level of Exchange service packs installed as the production Exchange 2000 computer.
10. Dismount the database. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Right-click Mailbox Store, and then click Dismount Store.
    2. When you are prompted to continue, click Yes.
    3. Right-click Mailbox Store, and then click Properties.
    4. Click the Database tab, and then click to select the This database can be overwritten by a restore check box.
    5. Click OK.
    6. Quit Exchange System Manager.
11. Delete the existing database and log files on the recovery server. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Start Windows Explorer.
    2. Locate and then click the C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata folder.
       
       Note The C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr folder is the default installation location for Exchange 2000. If you installed Exchange 2000 to a different folder, the location of the Exchsrvr folder is different on your computer.
    3. On the Edit menu, click Select All.
    4. Press the DELETE key.
    5. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
12. Restore the database files from backup.
13. Mount the database. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
    2. Expand Administrative Groups, and then expand AdministrativeGroupName.
    3. Expand Servers, expand ServerName, and then expand StorageGroupName.
    4. Right-click Mailbox Store, and then click Mount Store.
    5. When you receive the message that the store successfully mounted, click OK.
14. Create a user account in Active Directory Users and Computers. Make sure that you do not mailbox-enable the new user account. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.
    2. Right-click Users, point to New, and then click User.
    3. Specify the user name and the user logon name in the appropriate boxes, and then click Next.
    4. Specify the password information for the user, and then click Next.
    5. Click to clear the Create an Exchange mailbox check box, and then click Next.
    6. Click Finish.
15. In Exchange System Manager, expand Mailbox Store, right-click Mailboxes, and then click Run Cleanup Agent.
16. Recover the mailbox. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. Right-click the mailbox that you want to recover, and then click Reconnect.
    2. In the list of Active Directory accounts that appear, click the new user account that you created in step 14, and then click OK.
    To reconnect multiple users, use the Mailbox Reconnect Tool (Mbconn.exe). For more information about the Mbconn.exe tool, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    271886 How to use the Mbconn utility to generate Active Directory accounts for information store mailboxes
17. Use Microsoft Outlook to export the mailbox data to a .pst file, or use the Exmerge.exe tool to extract data from multiple mailboxes. To perform this procedure, you must have access to all mailboxes. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    262054 How to get service account access to all mailboxes in Exchange 2000
    The Exmerge.exe tool is located on the Exchange 2000 Server CD-ROM in the Support\Utils\I386 folder. For more information about the Exmerge.exe tool, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    174197 Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge Program (Exmerge.exe) information

For more information about Exchange 2000 database recovery, see the Exchange 2000 Server Database Recovery white paper. To obtain the Exchange 2000 Server Database Recovery white paper, visit the following Microsoft Web site: