Recreating a missing free/busy folder on Exchange 2010

AID: 9549
  • Status: Published

2300 points

  • Bysirakov
  • TypeTutorial
  • Posted on2012-02-04 at 11:16:12
If you are in the following situation:
  • You have recently migrated from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010
  • You have completely uninstalled and decommissioned your old Ex2003
  • Your users are starting to report issues regarding Free/Busy when scheduling appointments.
  • You find out that only Outlook 2003 users are experiencing the problem but not OL2007 and OL2010
  • You notice the error event ID 14031 similar to the following:
     Log Name:      Application
     Source:        MSExchangeMailboxAssistants
     Event ID:      14031
     Task Category: FreeBusy Assistant
     Level:         Error
     Keywords:      Classic
     User:          N/A
     Computer:      XXXXX
     Description:
     Unable to find freebusy public folder: EX:/o=OrgName/ou=My Missing Admin Group on the server: XXXXX for the user: User Name: XXXXX with legacy DN: /o=First Organization/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Recipients/cn=username
Now if we open EMC>Toolbox>Public Folder Management Comsole> “System Public Folders”> “SCHEDULE+FREE BUSY” … You noticed that indeed the “My Missing Admin Group” is not listed
 
PF-Management-Console.png
  • 41 KB
  • Check in PF Management Console
Check in PF Management Console

I will take a step back to explain shortly how Outlook 2003 is behaving regarding Free/Busy.
Ol2003 is looking for the user’s legacyExchangeDN and expect to find a system public folder with that same name. To find that folder it looks for an administrative group and a “siteFolderServer” attribute pointing to a public folder database. Migrated ex2003 users are still holding the old legacyExchangeDN.
Outlook 2007 and 2010 are not affected because they are not using public folders for free/busy. They are relaying to the exchange availability service on Ex2010.

Now, looking at the event ID 14031 we see - Unable to find freebusy public folder: “My Missing Admin Group” for a specific user. If we check that user in ADSI edit:
Old-user-legacyExchangeDN.png
  • 16 KB
  • Old user legacyExchangeDN
Old user legacyExchangeDN

We see that the migrated user “al” still has “My Missing Admin Group” in his legacyExchangeDN
When you removed the ex2003 you probably didn’t replicate the system public folders and completely deleted the legacy administrative group. Now in your Ex2010 PF database there is no such system folder and we are unable to recreate it simply through power shell.

Here are the steps to recreate this missing free/busy folder (in my case called “My Missing Admin Group”)


With ADSI edit navigate to Configuration>Services>Microsoft Exchange>YourOrgName> Administrative Groups> Right click and select to create a new admin group
In my example the name is “My Missing Admin Group” (you are probably missing First Administrative Group)
Create-a-new-Administrative-Grou.png
  • 51 KB
  • Create a new Administrative Group
Create a new Administrative Group

Properties of the newly created group and set the legacyExchangeDN as /o=YourOrgName/ou=Your Missing Group
Set-the-legacyExchangeDN-of-the-.png
  • 65 KB
  • Set the legacyExchangeDN of the new Admin Group
Set the legacyExchangeDN of the new Admin Group

Now we need to point the “siteFolderServer” attribute to the ex2010 public folder database. For this copy the “distinguishedName” attribute of the PF database to the “siteFolderServer” attribute of the administrative group
Copy-the-distinguishedName-attri.png
  • 76 KB
  • Copy the distinguishedName attribute of the PF database to the siteFolderServer
Copy the distinguishedName attribute of the PF database to the siteFolderServer


We are almost done. We need to set this last attribute called “siteFolderGUID”
Empty-siteFolderGUID.png
  • 8 KB
  • Empty siteFolderGUID
Empty siteFolderGUID

In order to generate the above download this small tool from Microsoft's Website

Run the tool and select registry format. Copy the result in a notepad.
Remove all brackets and hyphens from the GUID and add a space between every two characters
Generate-the-siteFolderGUID.png
  • 44 KB
  • Generate the siteFolderGUID
Generate the siteFolderGUID

Now paste the formatted result into the “siteFolderGUID”
Formatted-result-into-the-siteFo.png
  • 14 KB
  • Formatted result into the siteFolderGUID
Formatted result into the siteFolderGUID


After a dismount/mount of the public folder database, we can see that our missing free/busy folder is correctly recreated and listed in the PF management console
Free-Busy-folder-is-correctly-re.png
  • 34 KB
  • Free Busy folder is correctly recreated
Free Busy folder is correctly recreated


If you are still missing the free/busy folder double check the following attributes in the newly created administrative group
-      legacyExchangeDN
-      siteFolderServer
-      siteFolderGUID

Finally in conclusion, if our migrated users are still using Outlook 2003 we should not delete the legacy administrative group even when Exchange 2003 is fully removed. If your old administrative group exists but the free/busy system folder is not created, then most probably your “siteFolderServer” attribute is not pointing to the Ex2010 PF database.
    Asked On
    2012-02-04 at 11:16:12ID9549
    Tags

    Exchange 2010

    ,

    SBS

    ,

    Free Busy

    ,

    siteFolderServer

    ,

    legacyExchangeDN

    ,

    Public folders

    ,

    event ID 14031

    ,

    Outlook 2003

    Topic

    Exchange Email Server

    Views
    1363

    Comments

    Expert Comment

    by: AhmedAliShaik on 2012-02-14 at 06:38:38ID: 42940

    The document is very organised and useful to me.

    Expert Comment

    by: sivanov on 2012-04-24 at 03:11:49ID: 51462

    good one, good job

    Add your Comment

    Please Sign up or Log in to comment on this article.

    Join Experts Exchange Today

    Gain Access to all our Tech Resources

    Get personalized answers

    Ask unlimited questions

    Access Proven Solutions

    Search 3.2 million solutions

    Read In-Depth How-To Guides

    1000+ articles, demos, & tips

    Watch Step by Step Tutorials

    Learn direct from top tech pros

    And Much More!

    Your complete tech resource

    See Plans and Pricing

    30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

    Loading Advertisement...

    Top Exchange Experts

    1. demazter

      724,144

      Sage

      1,580 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    2. alanhardisty

      714,931

      Sage

      4,220 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    3. jjmck

      275,745

      Guru

      1,030 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    4. Rajkumar-MCITP

      268,093

      Guru

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Guru
    5. apache09

      245,757

      Guru

      1,500 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    6. akicute555

      178,820

      Guru

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Wizard
    7. amitkulshrestha

      171,436

      Guru

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    8. acbrown2010

      159,135

      Guru

      1,000 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    9. Akhater

      153,366

      Guru

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    10. Neilsr

      137,804

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    11. jordannet

      127,611

      Master

      10 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Wizard
    12. GreatVargas

      101,542

      Master

      2,800 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Wizard
    13. HendrikWiese

      95,084

      Master

      2,050 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Sage
    14. limjianan

      94,700

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    15. endital1097

      93,710

      Master

      10 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    16. Anuroopsundd

      92,000

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Sage
    17. davorin

      91,351

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Sage
    18. Radweld

      88,729

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Guru
    19. chakko

      88,498

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    20. R--R

      86,699

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Wizard
    21. e_aravind

      85,998

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius
    22. Exchange_Geek

      85,704

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Sage
    23. lucid8

      81,809

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Sage
    24. KalluSureshKumar

      76,534

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Master
    25. tigermatt

      73,020

      Master

      0 points yesterday

      Profile
      Rank: Genius

    Hall Of Fame