Create a Mailbox
Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
Mailboxes are the most common recipient type used by information workers in an Exchange organization. Each mailbox is associated with an Active Directory user account. The user can use the mailbox to send and receive messages, and to store messages, appointments, tasks, notes, and documents. You can also create mailboxes for resources such as meeting rooms and equipment. Mailboxes are the primary messaging and collaboration tools for the users in your organization. To learn more about mailboxes, see Understanding Recipients.
Looking for other management tasks related to mailboxes? See Managing User Mailboxes.
What Do You Want to Do?
Use the EMC to create a mailbox
Use the Shell to create a single new mailbox
Use the Shell to mail-enable existing users
Use the Shell to create a linked mailbox
Use the EMC to create a mailbox
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox users" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
If you want to create mailboxes for new users, you'll have to use this wizard for each new user mailbox; you can't use the wizard to create multiple user mailboxes. However, you can use the wizard to create multiple mailboxes for existing users.
Note
If you create mailboxes for multiple existing users, you must create mailboxes of the same type.
In the console tree, click Recipient Configuration.
In the action pane, click New Mailbox.
On the Introduction page, select one of the following options:
User Mailbox Click this button to create a mailbox that is owned by a user to send and receive e-mail messages. User mailboxes can't be used for resource scheduling.
The Active Directory account that is associated with user mailboxes must reside in the same forest as the Exchange server. To use an account in a trusted forest, select Linked Mailbox.
Room Mailbox Click this button to create a mailbox that will be used as a location resource for scheduling meetings. Room mailboxes can be included in meeting requests as resources and can be configured to automatically process incoming requests.
If you create a new user account for the room mailbox in Active Directory, it will be disabled. If you plan to associate the room mailbox with an existing account, you must select a disabled account.
Equipment Mailbox Click this button to create a mailbox that will be used as a resource for scheduling meetings. Equipment mailboxes can be included in meeting requests as resources and can be configured to automatically process incoming requests.
As a best practice, create mailboxes for shared meeting equipment, such as projectors or audio equipment, which can be moved to different meeting rooms.
If you create a new user account for the equipment mailbox in Active Directory, it will be disabled. If you plan to associate the equipment mailbox with an existing account, you must select a disabled account.
Linked Mailbox Click this button to create a user mailbox that is accessed by a user in a separate, trusted forest. You must still create a user account in the forest in which Exchange Server resides. This is required to create the necessary Active Directory object for storing the mailbox information.
Linked mailboxes might be necessary for organizations that choose to deploy Exchange in a resource forest. The resource forest scenario allows an organization to centralize Exchange in a single forest, while allowing access to the Exchange organization with user accounts in one or more trusted forests.
Note
You cannot create linked mailboxes for multiple existing users. You can only use this wizard to create one linked mailbox at a time.
On the User Type page, select one of the following options:
New User Click this button to simultaneously create a new user in Active Directory and mail-enable the user.
If you click this button, you'll need to provide the required user account information on the User Information page of this wizard.
Existing users Click this button to mail-enable one or more existing users.
Click Add to open the Select User dialog box. This dialog box displays a list of user accounts in the forest that aren't mail-enabled or don't have Exchange mailboxes. Select the user accounts you want to mail-enable, and then click OK to return to the wizard.
To remove a user from the list, select the user name, and then click
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.
If you selected New User in Step 4, complete the following fields on the User Information page. Otherwise skip to Step 6:
Specify the organizational unit rather than using a default one Select this check box to select an organizational unit (OU) other than the default (which is the recipient scope). If the recipient scope is set to the forest, the default value is set to the Users container in the Active Directory domain that contains the computer on which the Exchange Management Console is running. If the recipient scope is set to a specific domain, the Users container in that domain is selected by default. If the recipient scope is set to a specific OU, that OU is selected by default. To select a different OU, click Browse to open the Select Organizational Unit dialog box. This dialog box displays all OUs in the forest that are within the specified scope. Select the desired OU, and then click OK. To learn more about recipient scopes, see Understanding Recipient Scope.
First name Use this box to type the first name of the user. This field is optional.
Initials Use this box to type the initials of the user. This field is optional.
Last name Use this box to type the last name of the user. This field is optional.
Name Use this box to type a name for the user. This is the name that's listed in Active Directory. By default, this box is populated with the names you enter in the First name, Initials, and Last name boxes. If you didn't use those boxes, you must still type a name in this field. The name can't exceed 64 characters.
Note
In Exchange 2010, the mailbox's alias is generated based on the Name property. Invalid characters in the name will be replaced with a question mark (?) when the alias is generated.
User logon name (User Principal Name) Use this box to type the name that the user will use to log on to the mailbox. The user logon name consists of a user name and a suffix. Typically, the suffix is the domain name in which the user account resides.
User logon name (pre-Windows 2000) Use this box to type the name for the user that is compatible with the legacy versions of Microsoft Windows (prior to the release of Windows 2000 Server). This field is automatically populated based on the User logon name (User Principal Name) field. This field is required.
Password Use this box to type the password that the user must use to log on to his or her mailbox. This box won't be available if you're creating a room, equipment, or linked mailbox.
Note
Make sure that the password you supply complies with the password length, complexity, and history requirements of the domain in which you are creating the user account.
Confirm password Use this box to confirm the password that you typed in the Password box. This box won't be available if you're creating a room, equipment, or linked mailbox.
User must change password at next logon Select this check box if you want the user to reset the password when they first logon to the mailbox. This box won't be available if you're creating a room, equipment or linked mailbox.
If you select this check box, at first logon, the new user will be prompted with a dialog box in which to change the password. The user won't be allowed to perform any tasks until the password is successfully changed.
On the Mailbox Settings page, complete the following fields:
Alias This field is automatically populated with the text that you specified in the Name box. If you're creating a new user, or if you selected a single existing user to mail-enable, you can modify the alias for the mailbox. If you're mail-enabling more than one existing user, you can't specify a value for this field. The alias can't exceed 64 characters and must be unique in the forest.
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.
Retention policy Select this check box to specify a retention policy for the mailbox. Retention policies allow you to group one or more retention tags and apply them to mailboxes to enforce message retention settings. A mailbox can't have more than one retention policy. To learn more, see Understanding Retention Tags and Retention Policies.
Click Browse to open the Select Retention Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the retention policy to be associated with this mailbox. This is an optional field.
Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy Select this check box to specify an 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.
Address book policy Select this check box to specify an address book policy (ABP) for the mailbox. ABPs contain a GAL, an offline address book (OAB), a room list, and a set of address lists. When assigned to mailbox users, an ABP provides them with access to a customized GAL in Outlook and Outlook Web App. To learn more, see Understanding Address Book Policies.
Click Browse to open the Select Address Book Policy dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the policy that you want associated with this mailbox.
On the Archive Settings page, complete the following fields:
Note
This page isn't available if you're creating a room, equipment, or linked mailbox.
Don't create an archive Click this button if you don't want to create an archive for the mailbox.
Create a local archive Click this button to create a personal (also known as a local or on-premises archive) for the mailbox.
If you create a personal archive, mailbox items will be moved automatically from the primary mailbox to the archive, based on the default retention policy settings or those you define. If you click this button, the following settings are available:
Select a specific mailbox database rather than having one selected automatically Select this check box and then click Browse to select a database that resides in the local forest.
To learn more, see Understanding Personal Archives.
Create a remote hosted archive Click this button to create a cloud-based archive. To create a cloud-based archive, you must first configure Exchange Online Archiving. For details, see Configure Exchange Online Archiving. If you’ve already configured Exchange Online Archiving, click Browse to select the domain name of the cloud-based organization. To learn more, see Understanding Exchange Online Archiving.
If you selected Linked Mailbox in Step 3, complete the following fields on the Master Account page. Otherwise skip to Step 9.
Trusted forest or domain Click Browse to open the Select Trusted Forest or Domain dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the forest or domain that contains the master account, and then click OK. This enables the Browse button for the Linked domain controller field.
Use the following Windows user account to access linked domain controller To access the domain controller in the trusted forest or domain, you can use credentials other than the ones with which you are currently logged on. If you want to specify a different user account, select this check box, and then use the User name and Password boxes to type your credentials.
Linked domain controller Click Browse to open the Select Domain Controller dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the linked domain controller that you want to use, and then click OK. Selecting a valid linked domain controller enables the Browse button for the Linked master account field.
Linked master account Click Browse to open the Select Master Account dialog box. Use this dialog box to select the user account that you want to use as the master account for the linked mailbox, and then click OK.
On the New Mailbox page, review your configuration settings. To make any configuration changes, click Back. To create the new mailbox, click New.
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 single mailbox
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox users" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
This example creates a mailbox for the user Chris Ashton with the following details:
The mailbox's alias is Chris
The user's first name is Chris and the last name is Ashton
The name and display name is Chris Ashton
The user principal name (UPN) is ChrisAshton@contoso.com
The mailbox will be created in the Users container of the organizational unit
New-Mailbox -Alias chris -Name "Chris Ashton" -FirstName Chris -LastName Ashton -DisplayName "Chris Ashton" -UserPrincipalName ChrisAshton@contoso.com -OrganizationalUnit Users
This example creates a mailbox for the 3rd floor conference room with the following details:
The room mailbox's alias is 3rdfloorconf
The first name is 3rd Floor and the last name is Conference Room
The name and display name is 3rdFloor Conference Room
The UPN is 3rdfloorconf@contoso.com
The mailbox will be created in the Room container of the organizational unit
New-Mailbox -Alias 3rdfloorconf -Name "3rd Floor Conference Room" -FirstName "3rd Floor" -LastName "Conference Room" -DisplayName "3rdFloor Conference Room" -UserPrincipalName 3rdfloorconf@contoso.com -OrganizationalUnit Conference -Room
For syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.
Use the Shell to mail-enable existing users
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox users" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
This example mail-enables the user john@contoso.com on the database Sales
Enable-Mailbox john@contoso.com -Database Sales
You can also use the Enable-Mailbox cmdlet to mail-enable multiple users. You can do this by piping the results of the Get-User cmdlet to the Enable-Mailbox cmdlet. When you run the Get-User cmdlet, you must return only users that aren't already mail-enabled. To do this, you need specify the value User with the RecipientTypeDetails parameter. You can also limit the results returned by using the Filter parameter to request only users that meet the criteria you specify. You then pipe the results to the Enable-Mailbox cmdlet.
For example, this command mail-enables users who aren't already mail-enabled and that contain the text "Contoso" in the Company user field.
Get-User -RecipientTypeDetails User -Filter { Company -Eq 'Contoso' } | Enable-Mailbox
For syntax and parameter information, see Enable-Mailbox and Get-User.
For more information about pipelining, see Pipelining.
Use the Shell to create a linked mailbox
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Mailbox User" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.
When you create a linked mailbox, you must use the LinkedMasterAccount parameter to specify the account in the account forest. You must also use the LinkedDomainController parameter to specify the domain controller of the account domain you want to contact and the LinkedCredential parameter to specify the credentials that allow access to the account domain. For example, this command creates a mailbox for the user John Peoples and links the mailbox to John's account on the domain controller DC01fabrikam.
New-Mailbox -Database "Mailbox Database 1" -Name "John Peoples" -LinkedDomainController "DC01fabrikam" -LinkedMasterAccount fabrikam\john -OrganizationalUnit Users -UserPrincipalName john@contoso.com -LinkedCredential (Get-Credential fabrikam\Admin01)
For syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.
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