can't exmerge a mailbox to pst

1. Can you confirm you are able to open the mailbox OK using the account running Exmerge.
(this should prove the basic permissions are ok)

2. Have you attempted to run Exmerge from another host or Exchange server.

I just ran into this problem recently myself.

Remember, if you're using a 'Domain Admin' account you are by default DENIED ACCESS to do this.  I had to choose (or create) an account and add it in two places:  
1) Exchange server's Local Users and Groups 'Administrators'
2) Using a gold AD Users and Computers (like the one on the Exchange server):
     - Choose View, Advanced Features.  
     - Right-click, Properties on the user I wanted to ExMerge
     - Security tab, and add your non-admin user with Full mailbox access

This then allowed me to log in locally to the Exchange server and run Exmerge successfully for that user.  Also beware:  Verify the user's store is less than 2 GB.  ExMerging more than 2 GB into a pst will destroy it, and if you've chosen the 'Archive' instead of 'Copy' option, start looking for a backup.  If you must 'Archive' then use date ranges to limit the data pulled out during each ExMerge pass.

i noticed the account was disabled so i went and re-enable the account and ran exmerge again, i got a different error:

 Logging Level: None
[14:41:27] Reading settings from file 'E:\Exchsrvr\bin\EXMERGE.INI'.
[14:41:28] Error 8007203a opening an LDAP connection. ('LDAP://TAG-19J2WB1/rootDSE')  (CADRoutines::GetNamingContextData)
[14:41:28] Accessing Domain Controller 'DATA2'
[14:41:28] 'TAG-19J2WB1' is running Exchange Server 2000 or later
[14:41:28] Source server read from settings file is 'TAG-19J2WB1'.
[14:41:28] Reading list of subjects for messages to be selected from file ''
[14:41:28] Reading list of attachment names for messages to be selected from file ''
[14:41:28] List of folders to be ignored has been read. 0 folders in the list.
[14:41:28] Current machine locale ID is 0x409
[14:41:28] Operating System Version 5.2 (Build 3790)
[14:41:51] Error 8007203a opening an LDAP connection. ('LDAP://TAG-19J2WB1/rootDSE')  (CADRoutines::GetNamingContextData)
[14:41:51] Accessing Domain Controller 'DATA2'
[14:41:51] 'TAG-19J2WB1' is running Exchange Server 2000 or later
[14:41:52] Mailbox '/o=First Organization/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=TAG-19J2WB1/cn=Microsoft System Attendant' will be ignored as its DN contains strings in the ignore list
[14:41:52] Mailbox '/o=First Organization/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Configuration/cn=Connections/cn=SMTP (TAG-19J2WB1)/cn={7EFCB18D-18BF-4AB3-9701-570A56FCD63F}' will be ignored as its DN contains strings in the ignore list
[14:41:52] Mailbox '/o=First Organization/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Recipients/cn=SystemMailbox{7EFCB18D-18BF-4AB3-9701-570A56FCD63F}' will be ignored as its DN contains strings in the ignore list
[14:41:53] Found 56 mailbox(es) homed on database 'FIRST STORAGE GROUP/MAILBOX STORE (TAG-19J2WB1)'.
[14:41:53] Ignored 3 mailbox(es) homed on database 'FIRST STORAGE GROUP/MAILBOX STORE (TAG-19J2WB1)'.
[14:41:53] Found 56 mailbox(es) homed on the specified databases.
[14:41:53] Ignored 3 mailbox(es) homed on the specified databases.
[14:42:32] Using attribute 'PR_MESSAGE_DELIVERY_TIME' for date operations.
[14:42:32] Merging data into target store. The program will copy only those messages that do not exist in the target store.
[14:42:32] Associated folder data will NOT be copied to the target store.
[14:42:32] Using 'English (US)' (0x409) as the default locale (Code page 1252)
[14:42:32] All mailboxes will be processed, regardless of locale
[14:42:32] Using default locale for all mailboxes
[14:42:32] Initializing worker thread (Thread0)
[14:42:32] Copying data from mailbox 'Sara' ('SARA') on Server 'TAG-19J2WB1' to file 'Z:\SARA\SARA.PST'.
[14:42:32] Error opening message store (MSEMS). Verify that the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is running and that you have the correct permissions to log on. (0x8004011d)
[14:42:32] Errors encountered. Copy process aborted for mailbox 'Sara' ('SARA').
[14:42:32] Number of items copied from the source store for all mailboxes processed: 0
[14:42:32] Total number of folders processed in the source store: 0
[14:42:32] 0 mailboxes successfully processed. 1 mailboxes were not successfully processed. 0 non-fatal errors encountered.
[14:42:32] Process completion time: 00:00:00


You mention that I can run this another host or exchange computer. I only have one exchange server on the network. Can it be a XP pro workstation?

thanks

Please assign your login full access to the mailbox you need.
Exmerge depends on rights to access the data for export.

You must not use a domain admin account as these (by default) have DENY access to mailboxes.

i login to the exchange server as besadmin, a blackberry admin account, now when it pulls the list of all the mailboxes, i get the following error:
an error encountered with one or more users when retrieving list of mailboxes homed in selected databases on server...

who do i get around this?

thanks

Can you continue past this error?
You will often get this on systems where mailboxes have been deleted, but remain in the database for a while (deleted mailbox retention).
This is normal - just advising that not all mailboxes can be matched to current AD accounts.

Are you recovering from a Recovery Storage Group?
Is it a special recovery server?

no users populate to choose from. i am just trying to exmerge the mailbox to pst file so i can delete account.

Thanks for the points