Unable to remove Exchange database, checked for arbitration & Audit

Neil Hiorns 21 Reputation points
2021-02-27T14:54:46.133+00:00

I Cannot remove an On-Premise Exchange 2016 CU18 database, no mailboxes (including SoftDelete and Disabled), Arbitration, Archive, AuditLog, Monitoring, PublicFolders and all the others they ask you to check for. The only "mailbox" on this database is the SystemMailbox for this database.

What have I missed or is there a way to force its removal?

Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Andy David - MVP 140.8K Reputation points MVP
    2021-02-27T15:06:49.237+00:00

    If you absolutely positive there are NO needed mailboxes on that database, you can delete via adsiedit, though its unsupported and you would need to be careful.

    https://www.petenetlive.com/kb/article/0001414
    https://lonesomehacks.com/2017/05/14/how-to-force-removal-of-exchange-server-mailbox-database/

    Make sure you have accounted for ALL the arbitration mailboxes and they moved to another DB:
    https://blog.rmilne.ca/2018/03/19/arbitration-mailboxes-lay-of-the-land/

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  2. Neil Hiorns 21 Reputation points
    2021-02-27T16:46:57.073+00:00

    Unfortunately yes, I have removed dozens of databases in the past and have always been able to remove once I had moved all mailboxes.

    Ideally I would like to remove without the ADSIEdit method, but thank you for the references.

  3. Eric Yin-MSFT 4,386 Reputation points
    2021-03-01T06:45:23.977+00:00

    Hi,
    Have you checked that any failed move request or migration batch exists?
    If nothing left, you should use ADSI edit.

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