Exchange: Create a PFX Certificate and Import a Private Key
KB ID 0001528 Problem On my test network I have an Exchange server (Exchange 2016). As it’s publicly available and connected to Office 365 it needs a digital certificate. Because its my test network, I don’t want to spend a fortune on a certificates, so I buy the cheapest one I can find. I replaced it last week with a 2 year certificate for about $5.00. When the certificate came I had certificate-name.crt, and a CA bundle,...
Exchange: Can’t Delete a Database
KB ID 0001414 Problem Every iteration of Exchange comes up with some new system/hidden mailbox type that stops me deleting mailbox databases! This mailbox database contains one or more mailboxes, mailbox plans, archive mailboxes, public folder mailboxes or arbitration mailboxes, Audit mailboxes. To get a list of all mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database <Database ID>. To get a list of all mailbox...
Exchange – OWA and ECP Blank Page After Logon
ECP Blank Page KB ID 0001185 Problem Note: This article is for Exchange 2013,2016 and 2019, if you are running Exchange 2010 or 2007 see the following article; Exchange 2010 – Blank OWA Page? Sometimes this happens after applying updates to Exchange! Firstly make sure all your services a running! From an administrative Powershell window run the following command; Get-Service *Exchange* | Start-Service After making some certificate...
Exchange and the LegacyExchangeDN Problem
KB ID 0001468 Problem Why do we have the Exchange LegacyDN? It’s a throwback, from a time when we had our users, and our mail users in different databases. Below you can see the ExchangeLegacyDN for this Exchange on-premises user; /O=First Organisation/OU=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn={something-user-specific} Who cares? Well they are still important, if you send an internal email (to someone...
Forward Mail From Exchange (On-Prem) To Office 365
KB ID 0001467 Problem WARNING: Do not do this, if you are carrying out a Hybrid migration to Office 365! I’ve been doing an On-Prem to Office 365 migration recently. It was a little unusual because the ‘on-prem’ Exchange was not in the clients domain. So rather than migrate all the mail to their domain, and them migrate it to Office 365 we chose to use a third party migration solution ODME (Quest On Demand Migration...
Exchange 2019 / 2016 Manage Remotely via PowerShell
KB ID 0001465 Problem Since Exchange 2013 we have been able to manage Exchange remotely through the Exchange Admin Center, but what if you want to use the Exchange Management Shell remotely? Install Exchange Management Tools This is not just the Management Shell, this will also install the Toolbox and additional help. There are few prerequisites, but to install from a normal PowerShell prompt; Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online...
Exchange Update / Install Error: The Error Code Is 8224
KB ID 0001451 Problem I saw this error while attempting to install an update on Exchange 2010, but it can be seen on all flavours of Exchange. This is the ‘gist’ of the error; Organization Preparation Failed Error: The following error was generated when “$error.Clear(); install-ExchangeSchema -LdapFileName ($roleInstallPath + “Setup\Data\”+$RoleSchemaPrefix + “schema0.ldf”) ” was run:...
Exchange: “BuildToBuildUpgrade” Error
KB ID 0001436 Problem In the middle of an Exchange upgrade I got a bit stuck with the following error; “Setup previously failed while performing the action “”BuildToBuildUpgrade” You can’t resume setup by performing the action “Install”. There are a couple of variations on this error as well, you can also see either of the following; “Setup previously failed while performing the action “Install” You can’t resume...
Exchange Update Fails: ‘Cannot find Arbitration Mailbox’
KB ID 0001435 Problem Last night was a late one, Exchange 2016 update (CU9) failed to install and left the server in an unusable state. Relevant Part(s) of the Error —–Output Removed For the Sake of Brevity—– $name = “SystemMailbox{bb558c35-97f1-4cb9-8ff7-d53741dc928c}”; —–Output Removed For the Sake of Brevity—– Write-ExchangeSetupLog -Info (“Cannot...
Exchange: No Arbitration Mailboxes?
KB ID 0001434 Problem I was doing a ‘mop up’, after an Exchange install problem, (post to follow.) And went to look at the ‘Arbitration’ mailboxes in the clients Exchange Organisation. And they could not be seen? Get-Mailbox | -Arbitration Get-MailboxDatabase | Get-Mailbox -Arbitration Solution In my case, it was because the Exchange server was in a ‘Child Domain’ and the...