Removing and Adding User's mailbox in Exchange 2010 (on SBS2011)

The reason I like to remove it is because I like to start that account from the scratch.
Do you think "Disable" is more appropriate option when you are dealing with with user's mailbox issues? Microsoft engineer suggested that I delete it and re-create it instead of disabling.
Please advise.

@DLeaver,

  So let me summarize what you said:
  (1) SBS will delete the user account/attributes from AD when you remove user's mailbox.
  (2) So if I like to see that user attributes (password/groups/permissions ... etc) remain the same, choose "Disable" instead of "Remove"?
  (3) Once I disabled this user's mailbox in Exch Mamt Console, I would be able to create the same user mailbox immediately?

You will likely have to either delete the disabled mailbox (using the mailbox cleanup/disconnected mailbox) or reduce the retention period and wait for that process to run

So you are saying that I can't re-create the mailbox with the same username  right after disabling the mailbox?

Not until its gone completely no as the disabled mailbox can still be reconnected until the retention period is up

Where can I check the retention period?
Is there a way to remove just the mailbox of the user while retaining user account attributes?
Deleting an user account from AD is simply not an option as I have to restore so many things - permissions, groups, ... god knows what else I may not remember ...

If you select REMOVE you WILL ALWAYS delete the users AD account. You MUST use Dissable to get rid of the Mailbox ONLY.
This will only Disconnect the mailbox.
You should be able to create a new Mailbox straight away yes.

That sound very encouring. I will go ahead and disable the account in EXCH MGMT cosole. Then create the same mailbox again.

disbable mailbox is the function you are looking for which just removes the exchange attributes form the users account and not remove the complete account

@irweazelwallis

We have already covered the fact that he needs to DISABLE and not REMOVE.

@Neilsr
I successfully disabled existing mailbox and created a new mailbox using the same user account in AD.
The only problem is that when the users on the network send email to this newly created account, it fails to deliver with the following error message.

Diagnostic information for administrators:

Generating server: Domain1.Domain.local

IMCEAEX-_O=FIRST+20ORGANIZATION_OU=EXCHANGE+20ADMINISTRATIVE+20GROUP+20+28FYDIBOHF23SPDLT+29_CN=RECIPIENTS_CN=John+20Jr+20Doe@Domai.local
#550 5.1.1 RESOLVER.ADR.ExRecipNotFound; not found ##

page had not refreshed so didn't see other comments



the error above maybe to do with caching - if you created it with the same SMTP details then the cache doesn't match the recipient you either need to clear the cache from the local client or make sure they select the user form the GAL

@irweazelwallis
"you either need to clear the cache from the local client or make sure they select the user form the GAL " ---> I suspected that, so in my outlook, I chose "Send/Receive and Send/Receive Groups / Download Address book from GAL". When choosing the name of the recipient, I chose "TO .." button and selected the user's name. but the result is the same.

using exchange powershell can you confirm that you can user the email address to find the recipient.

can you send from outside or from outlook web access- just to remove any internal issues for the moment which may be down to offline address book or something similar

"using exchange powershell can you confirm that you can user the email address to find the recipient." --> how do I do that?

"can you send from outside" ---> This user receives internet email from outside. So if I send him an email from my hotmail account, he gets that email. We use POP email service from ISP. So our exchange server does not receive internet email directly. It pulls internet emails from POP account on ISP server. I use POP3 connector to check for new internet emails.

Again failure is within the network.

One more note.
As I disabled the user's mailbox (ie. John Doe), I created a temporary account (ie. John Doe 2). And I set up a fowarding in John Doe 2 mailbox account so that any email that John Doe 2 receives, it gets forwarded to John Doe account.
As we speak, if i send email to John Doe 2, then it gets delivered to John Doe.
But if users send email to John Doe directly, they get "undeliverable".

I found the solution.
I had to delete *.OAB files in C:\Users\JohnDoe\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Offline Address Books\cc0ed75f-xxxx

@DLeaver
Please see ID: 38736486 above.

I googled and found this article:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/exchangesvrsecuremessaginglegacy/thread/4aa722af-6ff6-4736-bda1-c129b2e81dc4

In it, it says:

The "ExRecipNotFound" is clearly pointing to the fact that the e-mail
was sent to some "memorized" address (represented as a
legacyExchangeDN).
 
Pick the name from the Global Address Book -- NOT the Offline Address
Book -- and see if the problem goes away. If it does then wait for the
OAB generation (which happens only once a day unless you've changed
the schedule) and then use Outlook to force a download of the OAB.
 
If you still have a problem, even after downloading the OAB, check to
be sure that there are no problems with the OAB generation. If there
aren't, exit Outlook and find the *.oab files on your machine and
delete them. Then start Outlook and force a download of the OAB.

This would mean that you would have to carry this out for every user who has a cached address for this user, and they would all have to carry out this task.

The solution I have posted is carried out on the Exchange and will correct the issue for all users sending to this user

"The solution I have posted is carried out on the Exchange and will correct the issue for all users sending to this user " ----> I agree. I don't want to go around every single workstation and delete *.OAB and download addressbook from GAL. Let me read upon that.

After reading upon that link, it sounds a bit complicated for me.

I opened Exch Mgmt Shell and ran: get-mailbox  bob | fl legacyexchangedn

LegacyExchangeDN : /o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=Bob  Jra74

Now I am supposed to go to the Bob's mailbox in EXCH Mamt/E-mail Addresses tab and add X500 email address like the following?

 /o=First Organization/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/ cn=Recipients/cn=Bob  Jra74

you can just rebuild the OAB and the users will redownload it

you could add into the login script/group policy something that would delete the file it caches to so it forces the new download

"you can just rebuild the OAB and the users will redownload it" ---> How do you rebuild OAB?

Like I said in ID: 38736486, I had to delete *.OAB files in C:\Users\JohnDoe\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Offline Address Books\cc0ed75f-xxxx
and download addressbook in OUTLOOK 2010.

Deleting *.OAB is only half the story. If a user Replies to an email from the user Sent from his old mailbox you will have issues. Also if they have his email cached in their outlook then you can also have issues.

The best and correct way to do it is as DLeaver said in https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27982005/Removing-and-Adding-User's-mailbox-in-Exchange-2010-on-SBS2011.html?anchorAnswerId=38736492#a38736492