How to use New-MailboxRestoreRequest in Exchange Server?

Well, there arises the need to use the ‘New-MailboxRestoreRequest’ cmdlet when you have a soft-deleted or disconnected mailbox. With the use of this cmdlet in the right manner, you can easily restore an Exchange Server (2016, 2013, and 2010) mailbox that has been soft-deleted or disconnected. Available in on-premises Exchange Server 2016, 2013 & 2010 and in the cloud-based service, (some parameters and settings may be exclusive to one environment or the other) this cmdlet moves data from the soft-deleted, disabled, or any ‘recovery database’ mailbox into a primary or archive mailbox that is connected. You may also use an Exchange recovery software, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange to restore soft-deleted or disabled mailboxes from Exchange database (EDB) file in a few clicks.

Nonetheless, the question arises as to how to use the ‘New-MailboxRestoreRequest’ cmdlet. 

Syntax to use New-MailboxRestoreRequest in Exchange Server

The syntax to use New-MailboxRestoreRequest in Exchange Server are as follows:

1. The first syntax is:

2. The second syntax is:

3. The third syntax is:

COMMON PARAMETERS: For common parameters, visit the link: Read More

Rules and Examples to create a Restore request

Rule 1 – To create a Restore request, you must provide the DisplayName, LegacyDN, or MailboxGUID for the server’s mailbox that has been soft-deleted or disabled.

Example 1 – In this example, the Get-MailboxStatistics cmdlet is used to restore or return the DisplayName, LegacyDN, DisconnectReason, and MailboxGUID for all mailboxes on mailbox database ‘MBD01’ that have a disconnect reason of SoftDeleted or Disabled.

This example returns the source mailbox with the MailboxGUID 1d20855f-fd54-4681-98e6-e249f7326ddd on mailbox database ‘MBD01’ to the target mailbox with the alias Aisha.

Example 2 – This example restores the data of the source mailbox with the DisplayName of John Smith on mailbox database MBD01 to the archive mailbox for John@contoso.com.    

Now comes the description in detail

Exchange Server does not delete the mailbox from the source database immediately in case the mailboxes are moved from one database (source) to the other (destination) database. Instead, what happens after the completion of the ‘move’ process is that the source database mailbox is switched to a soft-deleted state. With this, the mailbox data can be accessed during the operation of mailbox restore by using the New-MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet set in Exchange Server. The soft-deleted mailboxes in the database remain in the source database until either the retention period of deleted mailbox finishes or you use the Remove-StoreMailbox cmdlet to remove the mailbox from the source database.

To view the mailboxes that have been soft-deleted from the database, you would have to run the Get-MailboxStatistics cmdlet against that database. Here, you would have to look for results that have a DisconnectReason with SoftDeleted value.

Note: The mailbox will not be marked ‘disabled’ until the Exchange Information Store service determines that Active Directory has been updated with the information of the disabled mailbox. The speed of the process can be increased by executing the Update-StoreMailboxState cmdlet against that database. 

Disabled mailboxes in the mailbox database are retained for the time as it is specified in the ‘deleted mailbox retention settings’ configured for the particular mailbox database. After the specified time, the mailbox is deleted permanently.

To view the ‘disabled’ mailboxes, the cmdlet should be run against the database. Then, you should look for results that have a DisconnectReason with ‘Disabled’ value.

Note – To execute ‘Get-MailboxStatistics’ cmdlet, you need to have permission for it. However, you may not have access to some parameters if they are not included in the ‘permissions’ given to you.

How about using the New-MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet to restore soft-deleted, disconnected, or disabled Exchange mailbox?  

Using the New-MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet to restore soft-deleted, disconnected, or disabled Exchange mailbox is a time taking process and can prove to be a nuisance if you do not have the required technical expertise. Therefore, an alternate is always wanted. But what is that? Know in the section below. 

Use a third-party Exchange recovery software  

New-MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet does yield result and that too at a zero-cost when the requirement is to restore disconnected, disabled, and soft-deleted Exchange mailbox. However, if you want to make it easy and quick, using third-party Exchange email recovery software for the same is a better approach.

The way forward – Stellar Repair for Exchange 

Stellar Repair for Exchange by Stellar Data Recovery can be the best way forward to restore soft-deleted, disconnected, and disabled Exchange Server mailbox. It does this in addition to its main task of repairing corrupt or damaged MS Exchange Server database (EDB) files. While restoring the mailbox, it recovers all mailbox data, such as emails & their attachments, contacts, calendars, tasks, journals, deleted items, etc. The additional benefits that it provides are as follows:

Rating by MVP:

Reference: Read More

• Dismounted and offline Exchange database (EDB) file recovery– The software recovers both dismounted and offline Exchange database (EDB) files.
• Repairs large sized EDB files– Even if the size of EDB file is large enough, the software repairs the file easily.
• Repairs Exchange EDB files altogether – It can successfully repair multiple EDB files simultaneously. Therefore, you need not worry about time even if you have a number of EDB files of any size for repair.
• Ability to move restored mailboxes to Office 365/ Live Exchange Server– The software comes with the powerful feature of moving mailboxes to Office 365/Live Exchange Server.
• Allows saving restored files in multiple file formats– The software allows you to save the restored emails in more than one file format, such as PST, HTML, MSG, EML, RTF, and PDF.
• Supports multiple versions of MS Exchange Server– Talking about the support of Exchange, the software supports Exchange Server 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000, and 5.5 version.  

Inference Drawn

If compared, Stellar Repair for Exchange is much superior to New-MailboxRestoreRequest cmdlet for restoring soft-deleted, disabled, dismounted, or disconnected mailbox. Therefore, use it to check the difference it makes to your Exchange recovery task.

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About The Author

Eric Simson

Eric Simson is an Email Platform Consultant and is associated with Stellar Data Recovery from last 6 years. He writes about the latest technology tips and provides custom solutions related to MS Outlook, MS Exchange Server, Office 365, and many other Email Clients & Servers.