Summary: While moving only the primary mailbox from on-premises Exchange Server to Exchange Online, you may encounter the “cannot execute this move” error. In this article, we will be discussing the “cannot execute this move” error in detail. We will also explore the possible solutions resolve to the issue.
In the Hybrid deployment of the Exchange Server, you might opt to move the mailbox to the Exchange Online tenant but keep the archive mailboxes on the on-premises Exchange Server. There are many reasons for doing this, such as the legal restrictions of the company?s business or exceeding the limitation from the Exchange Online archive.
Reproducing the Issue
The first step is to confirm the mailbox locations and archive locations. For this, sign in to the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and click on Recipients and Mailboxes. Highlight the user in question and see the right pane.
Click on View Details. You will see that the archive has been created and the database where it resides.
You also confirm that the database (DB01) is mounted and there are no issues with it. You can do this by clicking on Servers and Databases. Make sure that the mailbox database of the primary mailbox is mounted.
Now, check the limitation and license of the user in the Exchange Online and confirm that the current size of the archive is allowed in the Exchange Online and the license allows the user to have an archive. After this, you can go ahead to create a move request of the mailbox with New-MoveRequest. The move is initiated using the below command:
New-MoveRequest -Identity "user email address" -Remote -RemoteHostName "<source server url>" -PrimaryOnly -TargetDeliveryDomain "<onmicrosoft domain>" -RemoteCredential (Get-Credential <localdomain\user>)An error may pop up saying, ?Cannot execute this move. It will result in the primary mailbox being in datacenter and the archive mailbox being outside the datacenter (on premise). This is not a supported configuration.?+ CategoryInfo: NotSpecified: (:) [New-MoveRequest], CannotHavePrima...manentException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=PAXP190MB1743,RequestId=1eb593bd-f0cd-4801-b96d646798a6701a,TimeStamp=6/5/2023 11:15:06 AM] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-CannotHavePrimaryInDatacenterAndArchiveOnPremisePermanentException] A0C7A0F1, Microsoft.Exchange.Management.Migration.MailboxReplication.MoveRequest.NewModernMoveRequest + PSComputerName: outlook.office365.com
The error is quite misleading as we?ve confirmed the quotas and the location of the primary and archive mailboxes and all looks good.
So, Why do We Get this Error?
When we move a mailbox, why is it that we cannot keep the archive on on-premises and move only the mailbox to the cloud? It is not possible to do so as Microsoft does not support it. You cannot have the primary mailbox on the Exchange Online and keep the archive on on-premises.
Till now, the only possible combinations are as follows:
- Primary mailbox and archive mailbox are kept on on-premises.
- Primary mailbox and archive mailbox are kept on Exchange Online.
- Primary mailbox is kept on on-premises and the archive mailbox on Exchange Online.
Possible Solution
This is a bit of a tricky as you need to keep the archive but need to move the mailbox only, without removing the archive. There is a native solution which would require some scripting. First, you need to export the current mailbox from on-premises Exchange Server using the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or with the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) using the PowerShell command New-MailboxExportRequest. Then, create the upload PST process to create a temporary storage on Azure, upload the PST file, create the mapping file, and import the file.
The Best Solution
Although this might work, you will end up with manual intervention and possible issues. To avoid issues and hassle, you can use a third-party application such as Stellar Converter for EDB. The application can connect to live or offline Exchange Server databases of any version, browse through them, and granularly export EDB to PST file and other formats, such as MSG, EML, HTML, and PDF. It can also export directly to a live Exchange Server database and an Exchange Online tenant. This way it simplifies the export/import process. It offers some nifty features such as priority export for important mailboxes, automatic mapping of mailboxes from the source to the destination, parallel exports, and continuation of process in case of an issue.
