Microsoft Exchange Server has built-in utilities, such as the PowerShell commands and GUI-based Exchange Admin Center (EAC), to export mailboxes to PST or another Exchange Server database. When exporting the Exchange mailboxes, you may encounter errors/issues or even fail to export the mailboxes due to misconfiguration, problem with the Exchange Server, missing permissions, and other reasons. In this guide, we will explore some common issues that you may encounter during the Exchange mailbox export and also mention the solutions to resolve them.
Why do you need to export the mailboxes?
There are scenarios where you need to export the mailboxes. Some common scenarios are as follows:
- Exporting the mailbox data for archiving purposes.
- Meeting the compliance and regulations.
- Need to export the data when there is a problem with the operating system or Exchange Server.
- Migration to Microsoft 365 or other systems.
- Exporting data from merged companies or standalone databases for historical purpose.
How to Export Mailboxes to PST in Exchange Server?
In Exchange Server version 2010 with Service Pack (SP) 1 and later, the New-MailboxExportRequest PowerShell command was introduced to export the mailbox data to PST file. Similarly, the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) can also be used to export the mailboxes to PST. However, the difference is that with PowerShell, you get better flexibility, more options, and can also automate the process.
For a mailbox to be exported successfully, you need to fulfil the following requirements:
- Right roles/permissions must be assigned in Exchange Server.
- A shared folder with the right permissions to the user and the Exchange Trusted Subsystem.
- Enough storage and compute resources.
- Healthy and mounted mailbox database.
Some Common Errors during Exchange Mailbox Export and their Possible Solutions
Let’s discuss some common problems that you might encounter when exporting mailboxes and their possible solutions.
1 – Access Denied when Exporting a Mailbox
Typically, when running the New-MailboxExportRequest command, you may get the error saying “Access to the path is denied.” As the error indicates, there is a problem with the access of the user exporting the mailbox or it is missing the Exchange Trusted Subsystem. This could happen due to lack of permission on the share of the folder or missing entries in the security of the folder.
It is important to check the sharing permissions of the folder. For this, go to the Sharing tab of the Properties window of the folder and ensure that both the user and the Exchange Trusted Subsystem group have read/write or Full Control permissions. The same permissions should also be checked from the Security tab of the Properties window of the folder.
After assigning the permissions, you can again try to export the mailbox.
2 – New-MailboxExportRequest is not Recognized
When exporting a mailbox using the New-MailboxExportRequest command, you can get a prompt from PowerShell saying “Error: ‘New-MailboxExportRequest’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet.” In most of the cases, the problem occurs due to lack of right permissions and roles in the Exchange Server. The user must have the appropriate permissions and roles.
To fix the problem, the user in question must be assigned the Mailbox Import Export role. This can be done using the below command.
New-ManagementRoleAssignment –Role “Mailbox Import Export” –User <User in Exchange>
Here, change the <User in Exchange> with the user to whom you need to assign the Mailbox Import Export role.
After this is complete, retry exporting the mailbox.
3 – Stuck in Progress or Queue
After running the New-MailboxExportRequest PowerShell command, you can check the status of export request using the Get-MailboxExportRequest command. This command will show the status as InProgress, Completed, or Failed.
In case the request never completes and remain stuck at InProgress, this means the request is either queued or stuck for one reason or the other. Below are some common reasons:
- Slow server’s performance due to a number of mailbox exports running at once or the server is not coping with the demand.
- Input/Output issues with the server’s storage or memory.
- Issues with the Exchange server or services.
Since there are a number of factors that can lead to this issue, you can start by checking the Event Viewer on the server. In the Event Viewer, you can look for any system resource warning. The other option is to run the below command to get more information on the exports currently in progress.
Get-MailboxExportRequest | Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics
The last option is to restart the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service. But this needs to be done in a maintenance window or after office hours.
4 – Timeouts during Mailbox Export
Timeouts can occur during mailbox export due to a number of reasons. The most common reasons are:
- Heavy usage on the server and storage.
- Network performance.
- Bottleneck on the Exchange Server or the destination network path.
- Insufficient space on the destination network path or the Exchange Server.
You should consult with the network and server administrator to ensure that the server has enough resources to run the export or perform the export process at a time when the load is less on the server. You can also check if there is enough space on the Exchange Server and the destination network path.
If the size of the mailbox is large, you can split the export by filtering the mailbox data based on date or date range. For this, you can use the New-MailboxExportRequest command with the ContentFilter parameter, and the Less Than (LT) and Greater Than (GT) parameters.
An Alternative Way to Export Exchange Mailboxes
With the built-in utilities in Exchange Server, you can only export mailboxes, shared mailboxes, and user archives. In addition, you can export the mailboxes only when the database is accessible/mounted and the Exchange Server services are operational and working. If the database is not mounted or there is a problem with the Exchange Server services, you will not be able to export the mailboxes using the built-in utilities.
Alternatively, you can use specialized EDB to PST converter tools, such as Stellar Converter for EDB that can make the job easier and seamless. With this tool, you can browse the entire structure of the database and granularly export the user mailboxes, user archives, shared mailboxes, disabled mailboxes, and public folders to PST and also to a live Exchange Server database or Microsoft 365 tenant.
Conclusion
Above, we have discussed some common issues that can occur when exporting Exchange Server mailboxes. We have also provided possible solutions to resolve the issues. However, to avoid such issues and seamlessly export the mailboxes from databases, you can use an EDB to PST converter tool, like Stellar Converter for EDB. This robust tool can simply export the mailboxes from EDB file to PST without the need of any additional permissions. It can also export mailboxes and other items from an unmounted or offline database file.
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