In Exchange Server, you may often need to perform several crucial tasks. For instance, you might need to back up the mailbox data of offboarded employees, archive unwanted mailboxes, or migrate mailboxes to another location. To serve these purposes, the most common way is to use the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet. It converts the mailbox data into PST format, making it easier to import the PST files to Outlook or a different Exchange Server.
This cmdlet is applicable on Exchange 2010 SP1 and all the later versions. To initiate the request through this command, you must have the Mailbox Import Export role assigned. Nevertheless, the request may fail due to several errors, which need prompt resolution. Here is a detailed insight into these errors, followed by their resolutions.
Using the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet – Major prerequisites
The user account through which you will execute the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet must have the Mailbox Import Export Role assigned to it. Since no user or role group has this role delegated by default, you will have to manually grant the desired roles and permissions. Here are the steps to do it through Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
Assigning the Mailbox Import Export role by using EAC
- Open EAC and log in with your admin credentials
- Click the + button to add the admin role
- Enter the group name
- Under Roles, click the + button
- Look for Mailbox Import Export and double-click it to include it in the list. Next, click OK
- Add the user account to the Member area through which you want to export the mailbox, and click Save
Assigning the Mailbox Import Export role by using EMS
- Use the following command for this purpose:
New-RoleGroup “Mailbox Import-Export Management” -Roles “Mailbox Import Export”
- Next, use the command below to assign the newly created role to the respective user or group
Add-RoleGroupMember “Mailbox Import-Export Management” -Member Administrator
- Create a shared folder to export the PST file
- Assign the read and write permissions to the newly created folders
- Share the folder with the users assigned the Import/Export role
- Add the Exchange Trusted Sub System to the permissions
- Make sure the users have full permissions on the shared folder
Using the New-MailboxExportRequest
After assigning the roles, you are all set to use the New-MailboxExportRequest to export a mailbox to PST. Here are a few examples:
- This example will export the primary mailbox of the user James Watt to a PST file on Server 001 containing the given network shared folder.
New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox JamesWatt -FilePath “\\SERVER001\PSTFileShare\James_Recovered.pst”
- This command will export the archive of the user Brett to a PST file on Server 001 containing the given network shared folder.
New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox Brett -FilePath “\\SERVER01\PSTFileShare\Kweku_Archive.pst” -IsArchive
- This command will export messages consisting of the words “business” and “gains” in the body of the message for the user Lisa received before January 1, 2025, to the PST file named Lisa_BusinessGains.pst.
New-MailboxExportRequest -Mailbox Lisa -ContentFilter “(Body -like ‘*business*’) -and (body -like ‘*gains*’) -and (Received -lt ’01/01/2025′)” -FilePath “\\SERVER01\PSTFileShare\Lisa_BusinessGains.pst”
Errors Encountered when using the New-MailboxExportRequest
Here are some errors you may come across while using the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet to export the mailbox data to PST files.
Error 1: Couldn’t connect to the source mailbox
The cmdlet may fail due to issues arising with the source mailbox or connections. The following error arises as a result:
Couldn’t connect to the source mailbox. MapiExceptionProtocolDisabled. Unable to make connection to the server.
This error can result from issues in the MAPI protocol, which allows access to MS Exchange mailboxes from MAPI clients. To resolve this error, you follow the steps below:
- Check the Exchange Server for Internet and Exchange connectivity issues
- Use Outlook client to log in to your Exchange account
- In case of successful login, export your mailbox data to PST manually
- Next, check the status of the user’s Client Access Server mailbox to find out if MAPI mode is enabled/disabled
- For this, run the command below in the EMS:
Get-CASMailbox –Identity user name
- To crosscheck the working of the MAPI mode, disable and then re-enable it. Here are the commands:
Disable the MAPI mode: Set-CASMailbox ID –MAPIBlockOutlookNonCachedMode:$false
Re-enable the MAPI mode: Set-CASMailbox ID –MAPIBlockOutlookNonCachedMode:$True
- Next, re-run the mailbox export cmdlet:
- New-MailboxExportRequest–Mailbox USERID– FilePath\\SERVERNAME\ SHAREPATH\name.pst
Error 2: New-MailboxExportRequest Access to Path is denied.
If the necessary permissions or roles are not assigned to the user account that is used to create mailbox export requests, you may experience errors such as “The term New-MailboxExportRequest is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet.” In such cases, the export request is not created. Besides permissions, the error occurs due to various other reasons as well, which are as follows.
If you do not assign the permissions or roles to the user account necessary to initiate a mailbox export request, you may face the following error:
The term ‘New-MailboxExportRequest’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet
Here are the reasons behind this error and the resolution:
Exchange Server version
One prominent reason behind this issue could be the use of an Exchange Version older than Exchange 2010 SP1. As an instant solution, upgrade or update your Exchange server to 2010 SP1 or later editions.
Lack of permissions
Lack of the necessary permission can be one of the reasons behind this error. Therefore, always run the cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) as an administrator with all the file/folder access rights and permissions assigned.
Error 3: Can’t connect to the mailbox database. Check that it is accessible and then try again.
This error occurs when you export the mailbox from a non-existent database. To know the error in detail, using the following command:
Get-MailboxExportRequest -status failed | Get-MailboxExportRequestStatistics -IncludeReport | Format-List > \\ex01\pstfiles\report.txt
Several logs contained in the report will help you to find the root cause. One of the errors could be InvalidContentFilterPermanentException, which refers to the incorrect date format. It will indicate a mismatch between the data and time of the export request and that of the time and location of the server. To resolve this issue, enter the correct date and execute the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet again. Successful export of the mailbox content to PST will indicate the resolution of the error.
Using the EDB to PST converter to resolve New- MailboxExportRequest failed errors
Besides the aforementioned issues related to the New-MailboxExportRequest, there can be many more errors. You can identify them by checking out the server logs. While some would be easy to resolve, others would need the execution of complicated commands. This, in turn, will need you to possess core technical knowledge of the involved commands, syntaxes, and filters.
For anyone new to this platform, this could pose a major challenge. Additionally, these commands may not guarantee complete error resolution despite taking much time. Admins prefer seeking help from the advanced EDB to PST converter tools to deal with such New- MailboxExportRequest failed issues. This is where Stellar Converter for EDB can make a significant difference. You can order this tool from the official website of Stellar.
Conclusion
Several reasons may prompt you to export mailbox data to a PST file in the Exchange Server. It could be to archive obsolete data, remove the mailbox items of offboarded employees, or back up the crucial data. In any case, the ideal way to carry out the export is to use the New-MailboxExportRequest cmdlet. Before proceeding, ensure that the necessary roles and permissions are assigned to the user and role groups. Alongside, also ensure to run this command in Exchange Server 2010 SP1 and later versions to avoid several issues.
During the export process, you may come across several New-MailboxExportRequest failed errors that are necessary to fix immediately. Prominent among these errors are MapiExceptionProtocolDisabled, Access to Path is denied, accessibility issues, and so on. To resolve these errors, you need to run several Exchange Management Shell commands.
This requires you to possess in-depth technical expertise. Still, these fixes do not guarantee permanent resolution and may lag in terms of time consumption. To get away with these issues, an EDB to PST converter such as Stellar Converter for EDB could help significantly.
