Create a Mailbox for an Existing User

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Management Shell to create a mailbox for an existing user. After you mailbox-enable an existing user on a specified Mailbox server, the user can send and receive e-mail messages.

Looking for other management tasks related to user mailboxes? Check out Managing User Mailboxes.

Use the EMC to create a mailbox for an existing user

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "User mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

  1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration.

  2. In the action pane, click New Mailbox.

  3. On the Introduction page, click User Mailbox, and then click Next.

  4. On the User Type page, click Existing user, and then click Add.

  5. In Select User, select the user for whom you want to create a mailbox, and then click OK.

  6. Click Next.

  7. On the Mailbox Settings page, complete the following fields:

    • Alias   Use this box to type the alias for the user mailbox. If the user logon name contains any characters that aren't valid for the alias field, they will be replaced by underscore characters (_). The alias can't exceed 64 characters and must be unique in the forest. If you're creating mailboxes for multiple existing users, this box will be unavailable and will display the following message: An alias will be automatically generated for each new mailbox.

      Note

      You can’t use an apostrophe (') or a quotation mark (") in the alias because these characters aren’t supported in email addresses. Although you might not receive an error if you create a mailbox using unsupported characters, these characters can cause problems later. For example, users that have been assigned access permissions to a mailbox that was created using an unsupported character may experience problems or unexpected behavior.

    • Specify the mailbox database rather than using a database automatically selected   Select this check box to specify a mailbox database instead of allowing Exchange to select a database for you. Click Browse to open the Select Mailbox Database dialog box. This dialog box lists all the mailbox databases in your Exchange organization. By default, the mailbox databases are sorted by name. You can also click the title of the corresponding column to sort the databases by server name. Select the mailbox database you want to use, and then click OK. This is an optional field.

    • Managed folder mailbox policy   Select this check box to specify a managed folder mailbox policy for the mailbox. A managed folder mailbox policy is a logical grouping of managed folders. When a managed folder mailbox policy is applied to a user’s mailbox, all the managed folders linked to the policy are deployed in a single operation, thereby making the deployment of messaging records management (MRM) easier. To learn more, see Understanding Managed Folders.

      Click Browse to open the Select Managed Folder Mailbox Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the managed folder mailbox policy to be associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.

      Note

      Managed custom folders are a premium feature of MRM. Mailboxes with policies that include managed custom folders require an Exchange Server Enterprise client access license (CAL).

    • Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy   Select this check box to specify a Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy for the mailbox. Exchange ActiveSync enables access to an Exchange mailbox from a mobile device. To learn more, see Understanding Exchange ActiveSync Mailbox Policies.

      Click Browse to open the Select ActiveSync Mailbox Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the policy that you want associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.

  8. On the New Mailbox page, review the Configuration Summary. This summary contains information about the options you have selected for the mailbox. To make changes to these options, click Back. To create the new mailbox, click New.

  9. On the Completion page, review the following, and then click Finish to close the wizard:

    • A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully.

    • A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes.

Use the Shell to create a mailbox for an existing user

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "User mailboxes" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example creates a mailbox for the existing user John in the contoso.com domain.

Enable-Mailbox john@contoso.com -Database "MyServer\Mailbox Database"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Enable-Mailbox.

Other Tasks

After you create a mailbox, you may want to:

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