Summary: Recovering deleted mailbox or mailbox items in Exchange 2016 is a tedious task, especially when you don’t have any backup or are unfamiliar with Exchange Server. In this post, we discussed different methods to help you recover accidentally deleted mailboxes or mail items in Exchange 2016. These methods include using Exchange tools and features and the advanced Exchange recovery solution to restore deleted mailboxes and items in Exchange 2016.
It?s quite possible that you may accidentally delete a mailbox from your Exchange Server while managing the mailboxes or performing regular server maintenance tasks. As an Exchange administrator, you must be aware of several ways to recover deleted mailboxes.
By default, the deleted mailbox is not removed from the server immediately. Instead, it?s moved to the disconnected mailbox list until the retention period is over. By default, the retention period is between 14-30 days in the Exchange Server 2016.
The deleted mailbox remains disconnected and hidden from the network until the retention period expires or you permanently delete the mailbox.
Methods to Recover Deleted Mailboxes in Exchange 2016
To recover an accidentally deleted mailbox in Exchange 2016, you can use the following methods before the retention period is over.
- Exchange Admin Center (EAC).
- Exchange Management Shell (EMS) PowerShell cmdlets.
- A third-party Exchange recovery software.
All three methods to recover deleted mailbox in Exchange Server 2016 are discussed below in detail.
Method 1: Recover Deleted Mailbox in Exchange 2016 via EAC
Exchange 2016 keeps deleted mailboxes for 14-30 days by default (based on your server settings and configurations). You can recover deleted mailboxes before this retention period expires without using your backups or when a backup isn?t available, obsolete, or fails to restore the deleted mailbox.
Step 1: Log in to Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and go to recipients > mailboxes.
Step 2: Click the More icon (three dots) and choose to Connect a mailbox. This opens a list of disconnected or deleted mailboxes in Exchange 2016.
Step 3: Click No, I want to connect to a different user account.
Step 4: Select User mailbox from the options and click Next.
Step 5: Click Browse to select the AD user. If no user is displayed, create a new user in Active Directory (AD) and follow this step again.
Step 4: Click Finish.
This will connect the deleted mailbox to the selected user account. You can now log in to the user account in Outlook or OWA to access the mailbox and mail items.
Method 2: Recover Deleted Mailbox through Exchange Management Shell (EMS)
Using PowerShell cmdlets in Exchange Management Shell, you can restore or reconnect deleted or disconnected mailboxes in Exchange Server 2016 in two different scenarios.
Scenario 1: Restore Deleted Mailbox to a New User Account in AD
You can use the Connect-Mailbox command in Exchange Management Shell to connect a deleted mailbox to a new user account and recover a deleted mailbox and mail items in Exchange 2016.
Get-MailboxDatabase | Get-MailboxStatistics | FlThis will list all mailboxes, including deleted and disconnected ones. Find and note the deleted or disconnected mailboxes you wish to recover or restore.
Connect-Mailbox -identity ?John? -Database ?EDB1? -User ?John?-Identity refers to the name of the deleted mailbox.
-Database refers to the name of the database from where the mailbox was deleted, EDB1 in this case.
-User specifies the user account name in Active Directory to which you want to connect the deleted mailbox.
Scenario 2: Recover Deleted Mailbox to Existing Mailbox
In this scenario, we will recover and restore deleted mailbox to an existing Exchange mailbox using the following commands in Exchange Management Shell.
Get-MailboxDatabase | Get-MailboxStatistics | FlThis will display information about your organization’s disabled and deleted mailboxes. Copy the MailboxGuid of the mailbox you want to restore and then paste in the following command.
New-MailboxRestoreRequest -SourceStoreMailbox GUID -SourceDatabase EDB1 -TargetMailbox "Maria" -AllowLegacyDNMismatchHow to Verify If Deleted Mailbox is Successfully Connected and Restored?
There are three ways to verify if a deleted mailbox is successfully connected to a user account and restored.
Verify via EAC,
- Click on recipients and then go to the page where mailboxes are listed
- Click the Refresh icon, and check if the mailbox is visible in the list
Check Active Directory Users and Computers,
- Right-click on the user account connected to the mailbox and choose Properties.
- Under the General tab, check if the E-mail box contains the email address for the connected mailbox
You may also run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell to check the status.
Get-User <identity>
Get-Mailbox <identity>
The command will display the UserMailbox value for the RecipientType property. In addition, the commands will help verify if the user account and the mailbox are connected.
TIP: You can extend the deleted mailbox retention period in MS Exchange via EAC or using the Set-Mailbox PowerShell cmdlet in EMS for single or multiple users at once.
For single or specific mailbox:
?Set-Mailbox -Identity ?John Russell? -RetainDeletedItemsFor 30?To multiple or all user mailboxes:
?Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited -Filter {(RecipientTypeDetails -eq ?UserMailbox?)} | Set-Mailbox -RetainDeletedItemsFor 30?Method 3: Recover Deleted Mailbox with Exchange Recovery Software
Stellar Repair for Exchange, an efficient third-party Exchange Recovery Software, allows you to recover deleted mailboxes in Exchange 2016 and deleted mail items that cannot be recovered via any of the manual recovery methods explained above.
The deleted Exchange 2016 mailboxes and items can also be restored from previously stored offline or dismounted Exchange database files. The only condition to restore the deleted Exchange mailboxes or emails is that they must lie within the Set-Mailbox retention period.
In 3-simple steps, you can restore your deleted mailboxes and items with complete integrity in PST format or directly export them to your Live Exchange database. After the installation, launch the Exchange recovery software and then follow these steps:
- Choose Offline Exchange mode and select the database from where the database was accidentally or deliberately deleted for the scan.
- After the scan, the software lists all mailboxes, including the one deleted from the database. Select them and click Save.
- Choose PST or any other desired format or location to save the recovered mailbox or mail items. If you elected PST, choose a save location and follow the on-screen instructions to save the mailbox as an individual PST.
Conclusion
Although you can restore deleted mailboxes via EAC or EMS PowerShell cmdlets, it?s a tedious process requiring significant time and effort. However, with the help of the Exchange recovery software, you can find and restore a specific mailbox to a new user without leaving the software interface. Then, after creating a new user via the software interface, map the recovered mailbox and export it directly to the newly created user. The best part is that you can create multiple users and export all recovered (deleted) mailboxes at once to PST, Live Exchange, or Office 365 at up to 4x speed with parallel processing.
It?s a fast, convenient, and efficient way to restore deleted mailboxes and items from Exchange database files. You can use it to recover mailboxes from any database file created by any version. It supports Exchange 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000, and 5.5.
