Forum Discussion
How to repair a corrupted Public Folder (on-prem)
Hello guys,
Hope all is well.
In our Exchange 2019 environment we use Public Folders extensively. Everything seems ok except one of folders that looks corrupted.
I can execute commands Get-PublicFolder / Set-PublicFolder against it, I can get its items statistics (Get-PublicFolderItemStatistics) and have access to items through Outlook. But commands Get-PublicFolderStatistics, Get-PublicFolderClientPermission return the same error:
The security principal specified is already on the permission set.
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-PublicFolderStatistics], CorruptDataException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=E7,RequestId=b2f89187-878f-4cab-b05f-fcdaa7d82c0d,TimeStamp=2/17/2025 3:19:42 PM] [FailureCategory=Cmdlet-CorruptDataException] B960021F,Microsoft.Exchange.Manag
ement.MapiTasks.GetPublicFolderStatistics
I tried to repair the corresponding public folder mailbox (New-MailboxRepairRequest) but none of my requests found errors. I moved the public folder content to a different public folder mailbox, no success.
Any ideas how to fix the issue? My guess is that ACL list of the public folder is corrupted.
Regards,
Dmitry Horushin
1. Check public folder status: Open Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
Run the following command to check the health status of the public folder:
powershell
Get-PublicFolder -Recurse | Get-PublicFolderStatistics
Review the output and verify that there are no errors or warning messages.
2. Use the IsInteg tool to repair: Stop the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.
Open a command prompt (with administrator privileges) and navigate to the Exchange installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin).
Run the following command to check and repair the public folder database: cmd
eseutil /g “path_to_public_folder_database.edb”
If an error is detected, run the following command to repair the database: cmd
eseutil /p “path_to_public_folder_database.edb”
Note: The /p option may result in data loss, it is recommended to backup the database first.
3. Rebuild the public folder index: Open Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
Run the following command to rebuild the public folder index:
powershell
Get-PublicFolderDatabase | Update-PublicFolderDatabase
4. Check the public folder permissions:
Open the Exchange Management Shell (EMS).
Run the following command to check public folder permissions:
powershell
Get-PublicFolderClientPermission -Identity “\PublicFolderName”
Ensure that the permissions are set correctly and use the following command to repair the permissions if necessary:
powershell
Add-PublicFolderClientPermission -Identity “\PublicFolderName” -User “User” -AccessRights “Owner”
5. Rebuild the folder using New-PublicFolder: If a specific public folder is damaged and cannot be repaired, you can try to delete and rebuild the folder.
Run the following command to delete the corrupted public folder:
powershell
Remove-PublicFolder -Identity “\PublicFolderName” -Recurse
6. Rebuild the public folder using the following command: powershell
New-PublicFolder -Name “PublicFolderName” -Path “\ParentFolder” -Copy
7. Check the event log: Open Event Viewer and check the Application and Service Log > “Microsoft” > ” Exchange” > ‘HighAvailability’ or ‘MailboxDatabase’.
Take further action based on the error messages in the logs.Hello SawyerColt,
Hope you're doing well.Thank you for your suggestion.
Unfortunately, it doesn't help.
- Get-PublicFolderStatistics returns error for the PF
- I can't dismount the database to use eseutil. Online checks didn't find any issues (I can freely move the PF between PF mailboxes).
- Update-PublicFolderDatabase doesn't work in Exchange 2019
- Get(/Add/Remove)-PublicFolderClientPermission returns error.
There's no reason to rebuild the PF because the client access works correctly and there are no subfolders. We don't use it anymore and I hope to remove it when it's empty due the aging of its items.
King regards,
Dmitry.
