Summary: You may encounter the error ‘Stalled due to MRS_Quarantined’ while moving or exporting mailboxes. This post mentions the solution to fix this error. Also, you’ll get to know about an Exchange repair software that can help repair the database, if it is corrupted.
Sometimes, an issue occurs when moving or migrating a mailbox or mailboxes from your Exchange Server to a new database, new Exchange Server, or Office 365. While exporting or moving mailboxes, the following error may occur:
StalledDueToMRS_Quarantined.
FailureType : InvalidCastException
FailureSide :
Message : Request was quarantined because of following error: Unable to cast object of type 'System.String' to type 'System.String[]'.
If you are moving or exporting the affected mailbox, this means that there could be some corruption in the mailbox or the mailbox database. When exporting the mailbox, you need to check the statistics of the move by using the Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics command as given below. In the StatusDetail column, you will find the StalledDueToMRS_Quarantined error.
Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics -identity <mailbox name>
To resolve this, you need to try to repair the mailbox and then try to repair the mailbox database.
For testing, you can use the -AllowLargeDataLoss parameter to the mailbox move to see if skipping the corrupted items is giving a clear indication about the state of the mailbox.
The next thing to do with the mailbox is to try to clean it up from the folders. This can be done from Outlook where you can try to delete folders, like spam or any other unwanted data. You need to run Outlook with the cleanviews and cleanfinders. Here are the steps:
Note: You need to have an Outlook installed with the profile configured of the mailbox affected.
To run Outlook with cleanviews, follow these steps:
To run Outlook with cleanfinders, follow the given steps:
After this is complete, remove the move or export request from the Exchange Server using the Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
If the problem persists, you can check the database. For this, use the New-MailboxRepairRequest command in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) as given below.
New-MailboxRepairRequest -Mailbox <mailbox name> -CorruptionType ProvisionedFolder,SearchFolder,AggregateCounts
This will go through all the mailboxes to try to find and clean the corrupted items if found. You can also take it further by running the same repair command (as given below) but on the mailbox database.
New-MailboxRepairRequest -Database <database name> -CorruptionType AggregateCounts,ProvisionedFolder,SearchFolder,FolderView
Depending on the size of the mailbox, performance of the server, and resources, this may take some time to complete.
There is no surety that the above-given process will be successful. You might be stuck with the mailbox not being able to move. In such a case, you can try something more drastic, which involves running the ESEUtil to try to find and repair any corrupted items.
You can use ESEUtil to perform Soft Recovery and Hard Recovery. Soft Recovery will try to fix any corrupted items in the database. Hard Recovery is only suggested as a last resort as it basically purges any data which is deemed corrupted and you will end up with a big data loss in your Exchange Server database. Apart from that, by performing Hard Recovery, you will be imprinting a hard-coded mark on the database. This will be in breach of the Microsoft support agreement on the Exchange Server. This means that you will not get support from Microsoft if the database is found to be repaired using hard recovery. Another problem with this is that you would need to have enough storage space, which must be about twice the current database file. This is needed because during the repair, it will create a new database file and copy data from one database to another.
Alternatively, to solve the matter as quickly as possible and with ease, you can use a third-party application, like Stellar Repair for Exchange. This application can open multiple Exchange Server databases of any version. You can export from the database granularly to PST and other formats. You can also use the application to export directly to a live Exchange Server database of any version of Office 365 with minimum effort and peace of mind that all the data is being recovered. The software uses a parallel processing technology to process up to 4 mailboxes simultaneously, depending on the system’s RAM.
Ravi Singh is a Senior Writer at Stellar®. He is an expert Tech Explainer, IoT enthusiast, and a passionate nerd with over 6 years of experience in technical writing. He writes about Data Recovery, File Repair, Email Migration, Linux, Windows, Mac, and DIY Tech. Ravi spends most of his weekends working with IoT devices and playing games on the Xbox. He is also a solo traveler who loves hiking and exploring new trails.
