Disconnected Exchange 2016 mailboxes not showing up

Matt Moriarty 1

I am trying to migrate several linked mailboxes INTO our main domain. My current process is to:

Identify the MailDB and GUID of the mailbox to be moved
Disable the linked mailbox user
Run Update-StoreMailboxState -Database <MailDB> -Identity <MailGUID> with the database and GUID of the mailbox
Re-connect the mailbox to the new AD User object.

However, the disconnected mailbox does not show up for quite some time (several hrs in some tests I've run) which I cannot explain.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

Andy David - MVP 142.6K Reputation points MVP

2020-11-11T20:05:32.167+00:00

They dont show up where? in the EAC GUI or via Powershell?
Matt Moriarty 1 Reputation point

2020-11-12T08:15:50.783+00:00

Hi all and thanks for the interest.

The disconnected mailboxes don't show up after I run the update-storemailbox command until some time afterwards (sometimes several hours).

When I say they dont show up, thats either through the GUI or via powershell. The mailbox then will 'appear' later on with a 'DisconnectDate' significantly past the actual time I disabled the mailbox through the GUI.

I was wondering if there was a service that needed restarting possibly but Im a bit puzzled as to whats going on.
Andy David - MVP 142.6K Reputation points MVP

2020-11-12T12:08:34.747+00:00

Hate to even suggest this because it sounds like a cop-out, but it sounds like it could be a domain controller issue.
Personally, I have never seen this. Are there any other replication or delay issues you are aware of or just with this scenario?

1 answer

Eric Yin-MSFT 4,386 Reputation points

2020-11-12T01:53:44.2+00:00
Run the following command to ensure if the mailbox exists in the database:

Get-MailboxDatabase | foreach {Get-MailboxStatistics -Database $_.name} | where {$_.DisplayName -eq "<display name>"} | Format-List DisplayName,Database,DisconnectReason

During which step did you find the mailbox not showing up?

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Eric Yin-MSFT 4,386 Reputation points

2020-11-12T09:14:09.54+00:00

Which CU are you using?
Looks like what this thread is talking about, but they were using Exchange 2013SP1.
Try this command instead of specifying the ID and see if it gets luck:

Get-MailboxStatistics -Database MDB02 | ForEach { Update-StoreMailboxState -Database $_.Database -Identity $_.MailboxGuid -Confirm:$false }

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Matt Moriarty 1 Reputation point

2020-11-12T11:38:03.687+00:00

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your response.

We're currently on Ex2016 CU18. Ive run the Update-storemailboxstate command individually on the mailfile for the disabled user but not over the entire mailDB. Will this make a difference and is it something that can be done in relative safety (i.e. will not affect any of the other mailboxes within the db)?

Eric Yin-MSFT 4,386 Reputation points

2020-11-13T07:45:32.343+00:00

Actually it's not a "unsafe" command, the Update-StoreMailboxState cmdlet forces the mailbox store state in the Exchange store to be synchronized with Active Directory.
My lab is on CU17 and when I disable a mailbox, it can be seen immediately by powershell.
Any strange errors found in Event Log?

Eric Yin-MSFT 4,386 Reputation points

2020-11-20T09:30:17.753+00:00

I am writing here to confirm with you how the thing going now?
If you need further help, please provide more detailed information, so that we can give more appropriate suggestions.

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