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"Multiple entries" error when a remote move migration fails

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Exchange Online

Symptoms

In a hybrid Exchange Server deployment, when you initiate a remote move migration either in the Exchange admin center (EAC) or by using the PowerShell cmdlet New-MigrationBatch or New-MoveRequest, the migration fails, and you receive the following error message:

The operation couldn't be performed because '<mailbox display name>' matches multiple entries.

Cause

The remote move migration fails because a soft-deleted or inactive mailbox has the same email address as the mailbox that's identified in the error message.

Resolution

Specify a mailbox by its GUID instead of its email address. When you specify a mailbox for migration by its GUID, you must use the New-MoveRequest PowerShell cmdlet. The following steps describe how you can get the GUID of an active mailbox and then migrate the mailbox by specifying its GUID:

  1. Run the Get-Mailbox cmdlet for the mailbox that's identified in the error message:

    Get-Mailbox -Identity <conflicting email address> | fl Name, Alias, DistinguishedName, GUID

    This command doesn't return soft-deleted or inactive mailboxes.

  2. Migrate the active mailbox by using the New-MoveRequest cmdlet and the GUID from step 1:

    New-MoveRequest -Identity <active mailbox GUID>

More information

If you want to identify soft-deleted or inactive mailboxes by email address, you can run the following cmdlet:

Get-Mailbox -Identity <email address> -SoftDeletedMailbox -IncludeInactiveMailbox | fl Name, Alias, DistinguishedName, GUID, IsSoftDeletedByRemove, *Hold*

If the preceding search doesn't report any soft-deleted or inactive mailboxes, you can run the following cmdlet to check for other soft-deleted recipients:

Get-Recipient -Identity <email address> -IncludeSoftDeletedRecipients | fl Name, Alias, DistinguishedName, GUID

Note: A soft-deleted or inactive mailbox in the output of Get-Mailbox or Get-Recipient will have a distinguished name (DN) that includes the organizational unit (OU) key-value pair OU=Soft Deleted Objects. An inactive mailbox is a type of soft-deleted mailbox. Therefore, it has the same OU value. An example DN for a soft-deleted or inactive mailbox is as follows:

CN=dakota.sanchez,OU=Soft Deleted Objects,OU=contoso.onmicrosoft.com,OU=Microsoft Exchange Hosted Organizations,DC=EURPR07A005,DC=prod,DC=outlook,DC=com