Problems with the system mailboxes are often only noticed when new Exchange servers are to be installed, and the installation then usually fails.
Faulty system mailboxes can also occur if a database containing the mailboxes has been deleted. Exchange normally avoids deleting a database if system mailboxes are still present. However, in the case of a corrupt database that was manually deleted from the Active Directory, the Exchange 2016 backup mechanism does not take effect.
However, the system mailboxes can be recreated relatively easily. For this example, I have therefore deleted the database that contained the mailboxes. The result is defective system mailboxes:
get-mailbox -Arbitration get-mailbox -AuditLog
In this case, the mailboxes could simply be moved to a new database, but there could also be problems with the associated AD accounts. The system mailboxes are therefore created from scratch.
The following 6 accounts are deleted in the Active Directory:
The output of the two commands specified above is now empty:
Now the Exchange setup can be started with the parameter "/PrepareAD". To do this, you can go directly to the Exchange BIN directory in the Exchange Management Shell and call setup.exe:
cd $exbin Setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Setup can also be called up from another Exchange server or directly from the ISO. With an ISO, it is important that at least the same or a higher Cumulative Update version is used.
Setup has now recreated the deleted user accounts:
Mailboxes must now be created again for the accounts:
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity "FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity "SystemMailbox{1f05a927-172e-4567-8642-ee1a6510c594}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity "SystemMailbox{bb558c35-97f1-4cb9-8ff7-d53741dc928c}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity "SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}"
Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity "FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042"
Enable-Mailbox -Arbitration -Identity "Migration.8f3e7716-2011-43e4-96b1-aba62d229136"
Enable-Mailbox –AuditLog –Identity "SystemMailbox{8cc370d3-822a-4ab8-a926-bb94bd0641a9}"
Finally, the display name is changed to "Microsoft Exchange" and the send limit for the corresponding mailboxes is adjusted:
Get-Mailbox -Identity "SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29*" -Arbitration | Set-Mailbox -Arbitration -DisplayName "Microsoft Exchange"
Get-Mailbox -Arbitration -Identity "FederatedEmail*" | Set-Mailbox -Arbitration -ProhibitSendQuota 1MB
Get-Mailbox -Arbitration -Identity "Migration*" | Set-Mailbox -Arbitration -ProhibitSendQuota 300MB
Done, the system mailboxes are ready for use again:
