bostonste
asked on
Exchange 2003 Probs
Hello
I have a user that works from home via remote access. When she opened outlook this morning she found that the last three days only email was visible and all the rest has vanished. There not in the deleted items folder or the local recovery folder and have not been archived. I have added her account to my machine at work in the hope that they would show with no joy.
Any ideas to there what may have happened??
The server is small biz and the email client is outlook 2003
Thanx
I have a user that works from home via remote access. When she opened outlook this morning she found that the last three days only email was visible and all the rest has vanished. There not in the deleted items folder or the local recovery folder and have not been archived. I have added her account to my machine at work in the hope that they would show with no joy.
Any ideas to there what may have happened??
The server is small biz and the email client is outlook 2003
Thanx
apcsolutionsuk
are you sure they haven't archived them ?
ASKER
She says that she has not.... were do they archive to by default?
Often if people setup outlook it can default to using a local pst rather than the mailbox. This will sync the items to the local outlook and take them off exchange. As they wre not "deleted" but moved they may not show up in the recovery folder...
They would archive to a local pst file
from a command line type
c:
cd \
dir *.pst /a /s
This should list all PST (outlook data) files
Sometimes windows search does not find them as they can be hidden files.
from a command line type
c:
cd \
dir *.pst /a /s
This should list all PST (outlook data) files
Sometimes windows search does not find them as they can be hidden files.
ASKER
The commands are telling her there is no pst on the system. This is a proper head scratcher.
Anymore ideas?
Anymore ideas?
try OST that is the file type for local caches of exchange mailboxes, check the size of those. Archives and local mailboxes would be PST.
Oh and have you tried webmail, do they show there? Have you tried clearing all the filters in outlook, how big does exchange say the mailbox size is.
ASKER
The exchange mailbox on the server is 365,511, however the user can see about 20 email in outlook. Ive checked the backups and they are the same size as the mailbox as they are now.
Well 365MB is a lot more than 20 e-mails, did you try webmail and the filters, it sounds like the mail is there but you can't see it as it is filtered. can you restore from backup or is it a non brick level backup like NT backup?
ASKER
The mail is there. Here inbox is 340mb. When u say webmail, your refering to OWA?? How do I adjust the filters?? The backup is restoring now, but I want the mail back without if possible.
Yes OWA go to http://server-IP/exchange in a browser.
For filters try https://ask.drexel.edu/cgi-bin/rightnow.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1002&p_created=1178569246&p_topview=1
I had a user yesterday with the same issue and filters cleared it, it is just set accidently by users.
For filters try https://ask.drexel.edu/cgi-bin/rightnow.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1002&p_created=1178569246&p_topview=1
I had a user yesterday with the same issue and filters cleared it, it is just set accidently by users.
ASKER
Ive tried the OWA thing with no joy. The filter thing is a no go also. She has told me she has played with no settings in outlook. Why the hell is it only showing the last three days email. She has used a couple o the others users computers in the last week or so and I was hoping that they would be on there systems.
The user has about 30 folders underneath her inbox that have old email that she manually moves, which account for the size.
The user has about 30 folders underneath her inbox that have old email that she manually moves, which account for the size.
This is very strange, If the mailbox is 340MB then the mail is there. So can I confirm you have tried to set a new profile up on outlook on a different machine? The next thing I would try would be exmerging the data to a PST file from the server and trying to open that in outlook. If that gets the data you should delete her mailbox and recreate it then import the mail.
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/ExMerge-Recover-Mailbox.html
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/ExMerge-Recover-Mailbox.html
ASKER
Yes ive tried a couple of new machines with no joy. Ive run through the exmerge wizard twice now. The operation completes seccessfully, however the PST files are nowere to be seen, lol. It's turning into a crappy day my friend.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Ive used exmerge on a test lab to extract messages from a recovery storage group to a mailbox store and it worked fine. It's just a case of extracting the users messages and it stores a PST file in the location that I tell it??
ASKER
Im running another time with two users boxes to see if that makes a difference. Her mailbox size is coming up at 760mb so all will be well so long as i can get the PST from exmerge. It as simple as following the wizard is it not?
ASKER
Ive extracted the email and imported with no joy. Gonna go to here house on monday and look on her system see what the hell is going on. I have no idea what the hell has happened here.
Cheers for your help bud.
Cheers for your help bud.
"Ive used exmerge on a test lab to extract messages from a recovery storage group to a mailbox store and it worked fine. It's just a case of extracting the users messages and it stores a PST file in the location that I tell it??"
You should extract the messages from the live exchange box, Remeber to COPY the messages from the exchange store not Archive / Remove them. This should generate a 340 MB PST file.
Do not do it from the recovery store as we done't think the data has been "deleted"
You should extract the messages from the live exchange box, Remeber to COPY the messages from the exchange store not Archive / Remove them. This should generate a 340 MB PST file.
Do not do it from the recovery store as we done't think the data has been "deleted"