Exchange 2010, exporting mailboxes to .pst.

[sch]

We recently upgraded from exchange 2007 to 2010 for one of our customers.

 

But i have trouble finding out why exporting mailboxes to .pst doesn't work. We have a designated computer for this kind of operation, with outlook 2010 installed, and the exchange management console installed.

 

In addition i have done every pre-configuration you should have to do to make it work (as far as i can tell).

 

Running the New-MailboxExportRequest to a shared folder simply gives me the error of 'access denied'. Exchange Trusted Subsystem group also has read/write permissions on that share.

 

In 2010, you also should get the "export mailbox" as an option when right-clicking the mailbox on a user in the management console. This option is not there either.

 

Here are the pre-configurations i have done:

 

 

• Ensured that the Mailbox Import Export role is added in a group wich the user i am using is a member of.
  
• Also tried to designate this role directly to the user with the powershell command, without luck.
  
• Added Exchange Trusted Subsystem with read/write on the share to wich i want to export the mailboxes.
  
• Installed Outlook 2010 with the office tools and the exchange management console on a designated computer.
  

 

The exchange organization still has a 2007 mailbox server in it though, can this have anything to do with it? If not, can anyone see what i am missing here?

[RabbieBurns]

you can just mount the mailbox in outlook and export it thru that?

[sch]

Yes, i can. But it shouldn't be necessary

[AngryTechnician]

I suspect it may still be a permissions issue on the shared folder. I usually run my exports to \\localhost\c$\Export to dump them on a folder on the C: drive of the server, then move them off once the export has finished.

 

Also, are you on Exchange SP1 yet? If so, you shouldn't need Outlook installed on the server any more.

[sch]

I tried exporting it to the local C: drive, but i get the same 'access denied' error. I am trying with the administrator user of the domain (wich was used when installing exchange too), so the permissions should be sufficient.

 

It is SP1, yes. But Outlook and the exchange management console is installed on a server we use as a management-server in the domain, not the exchange server itself.

[apearce]

try running powershell as 'Run as Administrator'. does this work?

 

Should have said - you right click on the icon before loading and its in the drop down list <-- for those who don't know where it is :-)

[john]

You need more than a dedicated PC, you need a second exchange server with the mailbox role on it! I had this chaos in the summer migrating from my old LAN to my new one I couldn't get the boxes out to a PST or in from PSTs, and plenty of error codes and hunting later it seems that MS broke the import / export PST option in Exchange 2010, and it was supposed to be fixed in SP1 but seems not from a bit of googling around.

 

The way round it I had was install another exchange server, migrate the mailboxes from the current one to the new one (I just used a desktop PC for the job), then run the export stuff on that PC instead (do it as you would normally so Outlook installed etc etc...) and then voilà they come off fine.

 

To import, if your quick and lucky enough you maybe able to get them to import onto a brand new clean install of Exchange if you do it as soon as its setup, however if your not its the exact same process in reverse, a pain in the rear end but that's how I've had to do it and it has work now and we have been fine but so much harder than it should have been!!

[EduTech]

I used to just dump the PST's to C:\PSTExport and never had any issues with that, run the PowerShell command-let prior to give "Administrator" FULL ACCESS Permissions to Each Mailbox.

 

seem's a bit odd for it not to work, and your right you shouldn't have to open them in outlook and export the PST that way! that's why PowerShell is there for! To be used

 

J

[sch]

try running powershell as 'Run as Administrator'. does this work?

 

Should have said - you right click on the icon before loading and its in the drop down list <-- for those who don't know where it is :-)

 

Nope! The user i am using is Administrator anyway

 

You need more than a dedicated PC, you need a second exchange server with the mailbox role on it! I had this chaos in the summer migrating from my old LAN to my new one I couldn't get the boxes out to a PST or in from PSTs, and plenty of error codes and hunting later it seems that MS broke the import / export PST option in Exchange 2010, and it was supposed to be fixed in SP1 but seems not from a bit of googling around.

 

The way round it I had was install another exchange server, migrate the mailboxes from the current one to the new one (I just used a desktop PC for the job), then run the export stuff on that PC instead (do it as you would normally so Outlook installed etc etc...) and then voilà they come off fine.

 

To import, if your quick and lucky enough you maybe able to get them to import onto a brand new clean install of Exchange if you do it as soon as its setup, however if your not its the exact same process in reverse, a pain in the rear end but that's how I've had to do it and it has work now and we have been fine but so much harder than it should have been!!

 

Seriously? I didn't see anything about that when i was researching, think i have to do another round of googlin'! That does seem like a huge hassle, and way too much of a hassle for me to bother trying. Yet, i can't say that i am surprised either, it's Microsoft afterall.

 

I used to just dump the PST's to C:\PSTExport and never had any issues with that, run the PowerShell command-let prior to give "Administrator" FULL ACCESS Permissions to Each Mailbox.

 

seem's a bit odd for it not to work, and your right you shouldn't have to open them in outlook and export the PST that way! that's why PowerShell is there for! To be used

 

J

 

I have to doublecheck, but Administrator already should have full access to all mailboxes already. Thanks anyway! And yes, i agree! Powershell is there to be used

[AngryTechnician]

You need more than a dedicated PC, you need a second exchange server with the mailbox role on it!

To say that you need a second server is extremely misleading. I run my exports from my normal Exchange server and they work just fine. If you had to set up a second server, that's something to do with your environment - a second server is not a prerequisite for this to work.

[EduTech]

Nope! The user i am using is Administrator anyway

 

Even though you are an Administrator you still need to sometimes Right Click > Run As > Administrator.

 

James.

[Theblacksheep]

To say that you need a second server is extremely misleading. I run my exports from my normal Exchange server and they work just fine. If you had to set up a second server, that's something to do with your environment - a second server is not a prerequisite for this to work.

 

It's was recommended before SP1 to use another exchange 2010 server because of having to install Outlook to do the exporting, which you probably don't want on a mailbox server. AFIK this changed with SP1 as outlook install is no longer needed.

[sch]

Even though you are an Administrator you still need to sometimes Right Click > Run As > Administrator.

 

James.

 

I have tried that too.

 

But it looks like i got the export through poweshell working now. The issue was a combination of permissions on the mailbox and the folder i was exporting to. Amazing, yet embarrassing how something simple as that can be overlooked.

 

I still bugs me that i can't get the export through the console working though, i am a big fan of simple graphical interfaces

[EduTech]

I have tried that too.

 

But it looks like i got the export through poweshell working now. The issue was a combination of permissions on the mailbox and the folder i was exporting to. Amazing, yet embarrassing how something simple as that can be overlooked.

 

I still bugs me that i can't get the export through the console working though, i am a big fan of simple graphical interfaces

 

Fantastic! Simple things like that are missed by many people every day! it's problem something to do with the fact you look at it everyday! ;-)

 

as for using another machine, i used to always use another desktop and install the management console and outlook. rather than doing it on the exchange box.

 

James.

[yaak]

I have tried that too.

 

But it looks like i got the export through poweshell working now. The issue was a combination of permissions on the mailbox and the folder i was exporting to. Amazing, yet embarrassing how something simple as that can be overlooked.

 

I still bugs me that i can't get the export through the console working though, i am a big fan of simple graphical interfaces

 

Mailbox exports are tricky. The destination path must be in UNC format (e.g. \\servername\sharename\file.pst) and your server, not your account, must have read/write access to the path. For example, if your Exchange server is MYEXSERV, then the share permissions and the NTFS permissions must grant MYEXSERV at least Read+Write/Modify permissions to \\servername\sharename. See New Mailbox Export Request Returns Access Denied.