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Reference to deleted Exchange 2003 database in Exchange 2016 to 2019 migration

David Haycox
David Haycox asked
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We recently migrated from Exchange 2010 (as part of SBS2011) to Exchange 2016 on-premises as a stepping stone to Exchange 2019.  The migration went as planned to Exchange 2016, and Exchange 2010 was removed cleanly.  We now have Exchange 2019 installed, and are ready to migrate mailboxes.  However, we get the following message when opening Recipients, Migration, clicking "+" to start a new migration batch, choosing "Move to a different database", then clicking "+" to select users:

Couldn't find database "domain.local/Configuration/Deleted Objects/Mailbox Store (SBSERVER) DEL:e2afb0df-946d-4e30-99fc-9897ccd47835". Make sure you have typed it correctly.

Now SBSERVER is the old SBS2003 / Exchange 2003 server that was removed (cleanly, we thought) several years ago.  It would appear that we can still search for mailboxes to move, and use the Exchange shell to move mailboxes, but nevertheless we would prefer to clean up this reference to the old server.  Presumably this would be in ADSIedit, but there is nothing under the Configuration context in:

CN=Configuration, DC=Domain_Name,DC=local
          CN=Services
               CN=Microsoft Exchange
                    CN=Your_Organization_Name
                         CN=Administrative Groups
                              CN=first administrative group
                                   CN=Servers

In fact, the entry "CN=Servers" is already missing entirely.

How can we prevent this error from occurring?
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Saif ShaikhServer engineer
CERTIFIED EXPERT

Commented:

Delete the exchange 2003 server container: The servers container.


CN=Configuration, DC=Domain_Name,DC=local
          CN=Services
               CN=Microsoft Exchange
                    CN=Your_Organization_Name
                         CN=Administrative Groups
                              CN=first administrative group
                                   CN=Servers



MASEE Solution Guide - Technical Dept Head
CERTIFIED EXPERT
Most Valuable Expert 2017

Commented:
Please check what is the output of this command
get-mailboxdatabase | Get-Mailbox -Arbitration |ft name,database,servername

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David HaycoxConsultant Engineer

Author

Commented:
Saif Shaikh: that container has already been deleted, as I mentioned in my original post.

MAS: see below for command output. No references to the old server there, these are the 2016 and 2019 servers.

[PS] C:\windows\system32>get-mailboxdatabase | Get-Mailbox -Arbitration |ft name,database,servername

Name                                                Database          ServerName
----                                                --------          ----------
SystemMailbox{1f05a927-1f5c-4e73-ba29-763bb3104077} GB-BIL-EX-000 DB1 gb-bil-ex-000
FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042 GB-BIL-EX-000 DB1 gb-bil-ex-000
SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9} GB-BIL-EX-000 DB1 gb-bil-ex-000
SystemMailbox{bb558c35-97f1-4cb9-8ff7-d53741dc928c} GB-BIL-EX-000 DB1 gb-bil-ex-000
SystemMailbox{D0E409A0-AF9B-4720-92FE-AAC869B0D201} GB-BIL-EX-000 DB1 gb-bil-ex-000
SystemMailbox{2CE34405-31BE-455D-89D7-A7C7DA7A0DAA} GB-BIL-EX-000 DB1 gb-bil-ex-000
Migration.8f3e7716-2011-43e4-96b1-aba62d229136      GB-BIL-EX-001 DB1 gb-bil-ex-001

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Consultant Engineer
Commented:
I stupidly hadn't spotted the old System Mailbox in the user list.  I couldn't delete it from there, but looking at:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29161317/Old-legacy-systemmailbox-in-Exchange-how-to-delete.html 

I navigated to Microsoft Exchange System Objects in AD Users and Computers, and just deleted it.