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Create a Room or Equipment Mailbox

  • Article

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

A room mailbox is a resource mailbox assigned to a meeting location, such as a conference room, auditorium, or training room. An equipment mailbox is a resource mailbox assigned to a resource that's not location specific, such as a portable computer, projector, microphone, or a company car. You can use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Management Shell to create a room or equipment mailbox.

Looking for other management tasks related to resource mailboxes? Check out Managing Resource Mailboxes and Scheduling.

Use the EMC to create a room or equipment mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration.

  2. In the action pane, click New Mailbox.

  3. On the Introduction page, click Room Mailbox or Equipment Mailbox, and then click Next.

  4. On the User Type page, click New user, and then click Next.

  5. On the Mailbox Information page, complete the following fields:

    • Specify the organizational unit rather than using a default one Select this check box to select an organizational unit (OU) other than the default (which is the recipient scope). If the recipient scope is set to the forest, the default value is set to the Users container in the Active Directory domain that contains the computer on which the Exchange Management Console is running. If the recipient scope is set to a specific domain, the Users container in that domain is selected by default. If the recipient scope is set to a specific OU, that OU is selected by default. To select a different OU, click Browse to open the Select Organizational Unit dialog box. This dialog box displays all OUs in the forest that are within the specified scope. Select the desired OU, and then click OK. To learn more about recipient scopes, see Understanding Recipient Scope.

    • First name, Initials, and Last name   Because this mailbox will be used as a resource, it isn't necessary to complete these fields.

    • Name   Type a name for the user. This is the name that's listed in Active Directory. By default, this box is populated with the names you enter in the First name, Initials, and Last name boxes. If you didn't use those boxes, you must still type a name in this field. The name can't exceed 64 characters.

    • User logon name (User Principal Name)   Type the name that the user will use to log on to the mailbox. The user logon name consists of a user name and a suffix. Typically, the suffix is the domain name in which the user account resides.

    • User logon name (pre-Windows 2000)   Type the name for the user that's compatible with the legacy versions of Microsoft Windows (prior to the release of Windows 2000 Server). This field is automatically populated based on the User logon name (User Principal Name) field. This field is required.

    • Password   Type the password that the user must use to log on to his or her mailbox.

      Note

      Make sure that the password you supply complies with the password length, complexity, and history requirements of the domain in which you are creating the user account.

    • Confirm password   To confirm, type the password that you typed in the Password box.

    • User must change password at next logon   Select this check box if you want the user to reset the password when the user first logs on to the mailbox.
      If you select this check box, at first logon, the new user will be prompted with a dialog box in which to change the password. The user won't be allowed to perform any tasks until the password is successfully changed.

  6. On the Mailbox Settings page, complete the following fields:

    • Alias   Type an alias for the mailbox. The alias can't exceed 64 characters and must be unique in the forest.

    • Specify the mailbox database rather than using a database automatically selected   Select this check box to specify a mailbox database instead of allowing Exchange to select a database for you. Click Browse to open the Select Mailbox Database dialog box. This dialog box lists all the mailbox databases in your Exchange organization. By default, the mailbox databases are sorted by name. You can also click the title of the corresponding column to sort the databases by server name. Select the mailbox database you want to use, and then click OK. This is an optional field.

    • Managed folder mailbox policy   Select this check box to specify a managed folder mailbox policy for the mailbox. A managed folder mailbox policy is a logical grouping of managed folders. When a managed folder mailbox policy is applied to a user’s mailbox, all the managed folders linked to the policy are deployed in a single operation, thereby making the deployment of messaging records management (MRM) easier. To learn more, see Understanding Managed Folders.
      Click Browse to open the Select Managed Folder Mailbox Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the managed folder mailbox policy to be associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.

      Note

      Managed custom folders are a premium feature of MRM. Mailboxes with policies that include managed custom folders require an Exchange Server Enterprise client access license (CAL).

    • Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy   Select this check box to specify an Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy for the mailbox. Exchange ActiveSync enables access to an Exchange mailbox from a mobile device. To learn more, see Understanding Exchange ActiveSync Mailbox Policies.
      Click Browse to open the Select ActiveSync Mailbox Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the policy that you want associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.

  7. (Optional) On the Archive Settings page, select the Create an archive mailbox for this account check box if you want to link an online archive to the mailbox. If you create an archive mailbox for the mailbox, mailbox items will be moved automatically from the primary user mailbox to the archive, based on the default retention policy settings or those you define. To learn more, see Understanding Personal Archives.

    Note

    Due to the small size of a resource mailbox, we recommend that you don't create an archive for a resource mailbox.

  8. On the New Mailbox page, review your configuration settings. To make any configuration changes, click Back. To create the mailbox, click New.

  9. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:

    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.
    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

Use the Shell to create a room mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example creates a room mailbox with the following configuration:

  • The resource mailbox resides on Mailbox Database 1.
  • The mailbox's name is ConfRoom1 and the name will display in the global address list (GAL) as ConfRoom1.
  • The mailbox is in the Conference Rooms organizational unit.
  • The user principal name (UPN) is ConfRoom1@contoso.com.
  • The Room switch specifies that this mailbox will be created as a room mailbox.
New-Mailbox -database "Mailbox Database 1" -Name ConfRoom1 -OrganizationalUnit "Conference Rooms" -DisplayName "ConfRoom1" -UserPrincipalName ConfRoom1@contoso.com -Room

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.

Use the Shell to create an equipment mailbox

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example creates an equipment mailbox with the following configuration:

  • The equipment mailbox resides on Mailbox Database 1.
  • The equipment's name is DVDPlayer01 and the name will display in the GAL as DVDPlayer01.
  • The mailbox is in the Equipment organizational unit.
  • The UPN is DVDPlayer01@contoso.com.
  • The Equipment switch specifies that this mailbox will be created as an equipment mailbox.
New-Mailbox -Database "Mailbox Database 1" -Name DVDPlayer01 -OrganizationalUnit "Equipment" -DisplayName "DVDPlayer01" -UserPrincipalName DVDPlayer01@contoso.com -Equipment

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.

Other Tasks

After the room or equipment mailbox is created, we recommend that you perform additional configuration tasks based on the needs of your organization. For example, you can configure resource scheduling policies or assign delegates for the mailbox. For details, see Managing Resource Mailboxes and Scheduling.