Recent Discussions
Disabling Tenant-Wide Auto-Archiving in Exchange Online
Hello, I need to disable auto-archiving for Exchange Online mailboxes at the tenant level. Before I pull the trigger, I would like to make sure I’m looking at the right knobs and understanding the downstream effects. Where is the definitive On/Off switch for auto-archiving at the tenant level (Admin Center vs. PowerShell)? What is the actual functional difference between the Archive settings in Org Settings and a standard Retention Policy? If I disable the tenant-wide auto-archiving, what happens to the mail that is already sitting in users' archive mailboxes? Does it stay put, or does it try to merge back? Thank you in advance.Solved189Views0likes3CommentsOAB download fails after hybrid mailbox move.
Hi folks, I'm posting this query here as I doubt anyone in the Outlook forums would have the necessary Exchange hybrid knowledge. I run a classic hybrid Exchange environment where Exchange Server 2019 CU15 is the on-premise platform. Authentication is provided by on-premise AD FS, with the accounts being synchronised from on-premise via AAD Connect. I've just moved my on-premise mailbox to Exchange Online via New-MoveRequest and for the most part, everything is fine. One thing that possibly isn't fine - going off the Bits-Client event log is the regular offline address book downloads, where I'm seeing regular failures in the event log and through double-checking with bitsadmin.exe. The initial address book synchronisation worked as the view in Outlook is fully populated, however, I expect that future changes likely won't come through. bitsadmin output Event log output (There's numerous events to choose from - this is the one I'm most curious about.) The BITS service provided job credentials in response to the UNIDENTIFIED authentication challenge from the outlook.office365.com server for the Microsoft Outlook Offline Address Book <guid> transfer job that is associated with the following URL: /OAB/<guid>/oab.xml. The credentials for the <sid> user were rejected. When the mailbox was on-premise, the OAB came from the Exchange Server - no surprise there, where post migration it can be seen from the bitsadmin output it now comes from outlook.office365.com. Perhaps that's also to be expected - I don't know, but it makes sense given the move. What alerted me to there potentially being an issue is the systray icon frequently gets stuck on the "synchronising" icon, and running a manual full OAB sync from within Outlook fails to complete. After an extended "hang" period, the sync window eventually times out with the error shown above (the protracted UI behaviour would appear to be due to the large number of retries). Dropping the BITS job URL into Edge simply returns a HTTP 503, which doesn't necessarily strike me as a problem. After all, I'm unable to provide a BEARER token using this method. I haven't yet tried via PowerShell as it only occurred to me now but perhaps I'll do so after posting this. Searching on this error and scenario has turned up nothing useful. I have also checked and compared event log entries from an Azure AD-native account, where it's a mixed bag of successful OAB BITS downloads and unsuccessful ones that feature the same symptoms as above, which offers up the possibility this might be a transient service-side error (though I'm not leaning heavily towards this). Has anyone else encountered this issue and resolved it? Is it even an issue to begin with, or is this expected behaviour? I'm unsure what to make of the symptoms. Cheers, LainSolved218Views0likes2CommentsAutoreseed, now what?
Have had a disk failure in a four server Exchange SE DAG with autoreseed enabled. New disk inserted, but now what? What I can google and AI myself to is something like this: Bring the new disk online Remove the broken mount point by deleting the mount point folder that does not lead anywhere Create a New Simple Volume and mount it in an empty NTFS folder Format it as per our standard, ReFS 64K and label to our standard (same as the old one) Does the experts agree that this is all there is to it? Many thanks!Solved155Views1like6CommentsUpgrading to Exchange SE
Hi, I currently have Exchange 2019 and need to upgrade to SE. When attempting an upgrade the process didn't appear as expected. Articles I've read basically said the process should be the same as a regular CU upgrade. When I run setup from the ExchangeServerSE-x64 iso, I get an Add Server Role window, instead of the expected upgrade method. The window presents 3 Roles, 2 are ticked, and they're all greyed out. The Next button has no function. I have Standard Edition 15.2 2562.17 (CU15). When checking my build number online, it is listed as the SE version, released July 1st, 2025. When I run Get-ExchangeServer, the Edition = Standard. Should it not say Subscription, or maybe SE? How do I verify my installation is actually SE? ThanksSolved777Views2likes4CommentsNeed to Purge DiscoveryHolds Data from Archive Mailbox in Exchange Online
Hello Team, I am working on an Exchange Online mailbox where the archive mailbox has accumulated a large amount of data (over 335 GB) under the Recoverable Items → DiscoveryHolds folder. The mailbox is not on Litigation Hold or Retention Hold, and the InPlaceHolds property shows exclusions (-mbx...), so there are no active holds preventing deletion. Environment Details Service: Exchange Online Mailbox: email address removed for privacy reasons Archive mailbox size: ~335 GB DiscoveryHolds subfolders contain the bulk of the data. Background : Initially, the user’s primary mailbox was full because more than 100 GB of data resided in the Recoverable Items folder of the primary mailbox. Since I was unable to delete the data, so as a workaround, I enabled the archive mailbox and moved the data there. I have raised multiple tickets with Microsoft, but after more than 45 days, I still do not have a proper resolution. Mailbox Hold Status PS H:\> Get-Mailbox -Identity email address removed for privacy reasons -Archive | fl *hold* LitigationHoldEnabled : False RetentionHoldEnabled : False EndDateForRetentionHold : StartDateForRetentionHold : LitigationHoldDate : LitigationHoldOwner : ComplianceTagHoldApplied : True DelayHoldApplied : False DelayReleaseHoldApplied : False LitigationHoldDuration : Unlimited SCLDeleteThreshold : SCLRejectThreshold : SCLQuarantineThreshold : SCLJunkThreshold : InPlaceHolds : {-mbx23233XXXXXX, -mbx212433XXXXXX} RecipientThrottlingThreshold : Standard PS H:\> Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity email address removed for privacy reasons -Archive -FolderScope RecoverableItems | ft Name,ItemsInFolder,FolderAndSubfolderSize Recoverable Items : 0 335.2 GB DiscoveryHolds : 80495 335.2 GB DiscoveryHolds_2022 : 177 20.7 MB DiscoveryHolds_2023 : 350 88.12 MB DiscoveryHolds_2024 : 4117 1.34 GB DiscoveryHolds_2025 (multiple subfolders): 47 GB – 55 GB each Issue : I need to purge only the DiscoveryHolds data from the archive mailbox without affecting other folders. I tried using Search-Mailbox , but received: The term 'Search-Mailbox' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet... I understand that Search-Mailbox is deprecated in Exchange Online. Also, the Content search is not very helpful.Solved841Views0likes3CommentsHelp please! Exchange report questions
Hello! I’m hoping someone can help clarify a few things about a deletion report I received. The report shows hard and soft deletes, but it seems to be missing information about moves and restores. I’m trying to understand the following: 1. **Hard Deletes:** * When something is hard deleted, does it go to the Purge folder, and is it still recoverable from there? * Is a “hard delete” simply what happens when someone empties their Deleted Items folder? * Can hard deletes happen accidentally? 2. **Limitations of the Report:** * Are there other reports that can show moves, restores, or whether an item is *currently* deleted? * My understanding is that this delete report only indicates that an item was deleted at some point, not its current status. Is that correct? 3. **Missing Message IDs:** * About half the entries in the report don’t include a message ID. Am I correct in assuming those items aren’t emails? If anyone is willing to chat or walk through this with me, I’d really appreciate it — I’m hoping to understand this report better. Any guidance or links to solid documentation would be truly appreciated. Thank you!Solved495Views0likes3CommentsCould any one explain Exchange Server SE Licensing Model?
I have the following M365 licenses in my education tenant: Microsoft 365 A5 without Audio Conferencing (Student Use Benefit) As per my understanding, each user requires an A3/A5 license to access their mailbox on an Exchange Server (Exchange SE). Since A3/A5 licenses already include Exchange Online, do we still need to assign these licenses to each on-premises user, or is this only for compliance purposes? For example, if we have 100 on-premises users, must all 100 users be assigned A3/A5 licenses in Microsoft 365? Reference articles are below. Microsoft Product Terms Please correct me if I am wrong.Solved223Views0likes2CommentsHybrid Update Agent download fails
Hi there, last Friday I was successfully able to execute the HCW with the full classic deployment. As we had some sharing issues we tried the full modern as well. But we were able to execute the HCW and finish it all the time. This morning there was an update for the HCW and suddenly we had issues with the part Hybrid Update Agent download which always mentions "Content Not Found" We tried this several times throughout the day, but unfortunately the error is still the same. Is there a general issue with the location of the HybridAgent file since the HCW has been updated? Kind regardsSolved3.4KViews4likes19CommentsAuthServer in Exchange Online
The result of Get-AuthServer is different between on-prem and EXO. The list of objects from EXO get-authserver includes some "IssuerIdentifiers" that include a "{tenantid}" pattern. Was this supposed to be expanded by a script, or by HCW? (HCW has never run to completion without exceptions.) There seems to be no documentation about this: no list of default entries, no documentation on the expected form, few mentions of the use of Set-AuthServer/New-AuthServer, and the options don't match the properties.Solved225Views0likes2Commentsnew Exchange Installation Autodiscover
Hi I have had a lab environment and suspended this to get experience with a new setup. Old setup had a ADFS server in place. New lab setup is based on Windows Server 2025, 1 DC, 1 Exchange server SE. Installation is ok. Client is a Windows 11 machine with Outlook 2019. DC is synching to EntraID. All based on German language. GPO for autodiscover is set. As well the DNS records. Post installation is the part where I am have an issue at. At least in the part of the autodiscover. Adding the primary mail address is always leading in pointing to the company authentification page adfs.xy.com which was in the old lab in place. I cant see any DNS entry neither on my external DNS provider nor internal (brand new setup) and have no clou where to search further. Wensearch did also not lead me to any solution. And a workaround to disable autodiscover is not my goal. Therefore I am happy to get any idea where to look at to get read of the adfs link. Appreciate your support. THY mameSolved492Views0likes6CommentsClarification on Exchange Server SE Edition and Licensing
Hi everyone, We are planning to implement Microsoft Exchange Server on premises. Recently, we noticed that Exchange Server 2019 is approaching its end of life, and we don’t see any pricing information for the new Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE). In this situation, what is the best approach? Do we need to purchase Exchange Server 2019 first and then upgrade to the SE version? If so, how does the pricing for the Subscription Edition work? Will there be an additional cost (for example, a yearly subscription) after upgrading? We would really appreciate any clarification or guidance on this matter. Thank youSolved815Views1like5CommentsMeeting rooms - end of synchronization with AD
Hi all, We have a hybrid environment, and the meeting rooms are "physically" in Exchange Online—I can no longer see them on the on-premises Exchange server. However, they are still synchronizing from AD. What do I need to do to ensure that the meeting rooms are completely in Exchange Online and do not synchronize from AD? So that the "point of truth" is in Exchange Online? Thank you for your tips.Solved139Views0likes2CommentsMigrating on-prem functional shared mailboxes to 365
I have an on-premises Exchange environment (SE Edition) with Edge servers, configured in a hybrid setup. New users are provisioned directly in Office 365, but many legacy users still exist solely on-premises. In addition, we have around 800 shared/functional mailboxes that are local and were not created as hybrid objects. I need to migrate these on-prem shared mailboxes to Office 365. I’m unsure of the best approach—should I: Convert them to full hybrid and migrate using the hybrid tools? Recreate them manually in Office 365? Or is there another recommended method? My goal is to make the transition as seamless and transparent as possible for users, while keeping the process simple and efficient on the admin side.Solved77Views0likes1CommentMystery Emails for Meeting
Hello I have this weird issue that I have been tracking down. A user's mailbox sends emails out every night as reminders to an appointment that they setup. The email goes to all participants in the meeting, regardless of whether they accepted or not. I used message trace to track the source IP and it trusted, none network within my management, which wouldn't have devices unaccounted for. I am not concerned that it is malicious or an account takeover situation, since there isn't any content added to the meeting. It is the same email every morning this week. Is there a cause for this? Are there any options in Exchange or outlook that this could be attributed to? For example one that would effectively say "keep reminding participants of this"? A few other details, which may or may not be relevant: On at least one occasion, I verified that their computer was turned off. So, it is either their iPad or there iPhone, but I am not sure if that is relevant. I have this posted to an apple forum as well. Of the 6 participants that the message goes to (according to exchange message trace) only 1 actually says that it shows up in his mailbox. Which makes me think that the other mailboxes are simply processing the redundant meeting message and there is something special about this one. But, I don't want to focus on that because it is too dependent on user input. It's really a question of why the messages are being sent in the first place. Thanks! This is a weekly recurring meeting and these mystery emails are going out daily.Solved251Views0likes1CommentRequest for Official Cleanup Script to Retire Exchange 2016 After Migrating to Exchange SE
Subject: Request for Official Cleanup Script to Retire Exchange 2016 After Migrating to Exchange SE Hi Exchange Team, I've successfully migrated mail flow and management to Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE) and am now preparing to retire our legacy Exchange 2016 server (EXCHANGE2016). I’ve followed the documented steps from the Decommissioning Exchange Server 2016 blog post, but I recall that a script—Cleanup-ExchangeLegacyServer.ps1—was referenced or released separately to automate the final cleanup. I’m unable to locate the actual script and would appreciate guidance on where to find it. Here’s a summary of what I’ve completed so far: Steps Completed Mail Flow Migration Reconfigured send connectors: Set-SendConnector "Outbound to Office 365" -SourceTransportServers @("EXCHANGESE") Verified SmartHost routing and TLS settings. Receive Connector Cleanup Disabled all receive connectors on EXCHANGE2016: Get-ReceiveConnector -Server EXCHANGE2016 | Disable-ReceiveConnector Mailbox Migration Moved all user, arbitration, audit log, and monitoring mailboxes: Get-Mailbox -Server EXCHANGE2016 Get-Mailbox -Server EXCHANGE2016 -Arbitration Get-Mailbox -Server EXCHANGE2016 -AuditLog Get-Mailbox -Server EXCHANGE2016 -Monitoring Queue Validation Confirmed no active queues on EXCHANGE2016. Connector Scope Audit Verified EXCHANGE2016 is no longer listed in any send connector: Get-SendConnector | Where-Object {$_.SourceTransportServers -contains "EXCHANGE2016"} Remaining Question Should I now: Run an official cleanup script (e.g., Cleanup-ExchangeLegacyServer.ps1) to safely remove EXCHANGE2016’s configuration objects while keeping Exchange SE intact? Or simply uninstall Exchange 2016 from EXCHANGE2016 and decommission the server manually? I want to ensure I follow Microsoft’s best practices and avoid breaking hybrid management or leaving orphaned AD objects. If the script is available, could you please share the official download link and any updated guidance? Thanks in advance for your help! —MichaelSolved303Views0likes2CommentsAssistance with Database Transaction log relocation
Dear Exchange Community, Recently, I have been tasked to relocate the Database log files and folders to another partition. to elaborate further, I have 2 mailbox servers with DAG configured and 4 Databases. As everyone is aware, one partition for databases and one dedicated for DBs logs (On both servers). I would like to know how can I do this, What are the requirements? and what precautionary measures should I take in order to minimize the failure or even database corruption. Any help regarding this matter would be appreciated a lot ThanksSolved178Views3likes5CommentsO365 hybrid connector to onprem failing TLS
We're having issue with the connector to on-prem from Exchange Online If we enable the TLS it fails with the error Cannot connect to remote server [Message=451 5.7.3 STARTTLS is required to send mail Looking at the on-prem server we noticed that if connecting to port 25 STARTLS is missing but connecting to port 587 is present PORT 587 250-SIZE 20971520 250-PIPELINING 250-DSN 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-STARTTLS 250-AUTH NTLM 250-8BITMIME 250-BINARYMIME 250 CHUNKING 451 4.7.0 Timeout waiting for client input PORT 25 250-SIZE 62423040 250-PIPELINING 250-DSN 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-8BITMIME 250-BINARYMIME 250 CHUNKING 451 4.7.0 Timeout waiting for client input Is there a way to have it enabled on port 25 as well ?Solved793Views0likes7CommentsExchange 2016 Maximum number of recipients in a message that's sent by the specific sender
Hello, I want to know if the RecipientLimits value on a mailbox can override the MaxRecipientEnvelopeLimit. For example, if I set the MaxRecipientEnvelopeLimit to 50 to limit all organization mailboxes to a maximum of 50 recipients, and then I set the RecipientLimits of a specific mailbox, let’s say user10@mylab.local, to unlimited. Can user10 send an email with 100 recipients or not?Solved204Views2likes6CommentsDiscrepancy with shared mailbox when removing user-mailbox
Hello, When we remove a mailbox from Exchange 365, we see a discrepancy with the shared mailboxes the user had access/permissions for. - the user-object is deleted for "Full-Access" - the user-object is not deleted for "Send As". Because the user/mailbox does not exist anymore, now the SSID (S-1-5-21-.......) is displayed instead of the users mailaddress. Why isn't 'Send As' cleaned up; 'Full-Access' is? Now we have several old permissions on the shared mailboxes. Kind regards, ArjanSolved286Views1like4Comments
Events
Recent Blogs
- We wanted to provide a few updates related to modernizing DNS Security in Exchange Online.Apr 23, 20261.2KViews2likes1Comment
- 2 MIN READWe wanted to tell you about a new Change Optics Report that is now in Public Preview.Apr 20, 20262.3KViews2likes7Comments