Home About Discussion Forums Training Community Links Contact Exchange Server Pro Microsoft Exchange Server News - Tips - Tutorials News Tutorials Solutions Articles Reviews Ebooks Videos Search this website Search PowerShell SSL Certificates Exchange 2010 Migration Exchange 2010 Training Backup & Recovery Exchange Server 2013 You are here: Home / Tutorials / How to Import PST Files into Mailboxes with Exchange 2010 SP1 How to Import PST Files into Mailboxes with Exchange 2010 SP1 Share 2 Tw eet 6 4 Like 4 people like this. March 17, 2011 By Paul Cunningham 17 Comments In a recent article we looked at how to export mailboxes to PST file with Mailbox Export Requests for Exchange Server 2010 SP1. In this article we ll look at the process for importing PST files into mailboxes. In Exchange Server 2010 SP1 importing PST files into mailboxes is performed using Mailbox Import Requests. These are similar to export requests in that they are processed by a Client Access server. Because multiple Client Access servers can exist in a site there is no way to determine which one will process the request, therefore the PST file to import must be accessible via the UNC path of shared folder. The account that is performing the import also needs to be explicitly granted the rights to do so, as no accounts have this right by default (even Organization administrators). Granting User Rights for Mailbox Imports in Exchange 2010 SP1 The first step is to grant the right to import mailboxes to an account in your organization. In the Exchange Management Shell run the following command. New-ManagementRoleAssignment Role "Mailbox Import Export" User Administrator If you re logged with that user already simply restart your Exchange Management Shell session to be granted access to the new cmdlets. Creating a Network Share for Mailbox Imports in Exchange 2010 SP1 Next we need to create the network share that will be used as the file path for the PST files to be imported. All that is required here is a network share that the Exchange Trusted Subsystem group has read/write permission to. 1/6
Importing a PST File with an Exchange Server SP1 Mailbox Import Request To import a PST file to a mailbox we use the New-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet. In this example the PST file alan.reid.pst is being imported into John Smith s mailbox. [PS] C:\>New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst -Mailbox john.smith In some cases you might prefer to import the PST file into sub-folder of the mailbox. You can do this by adding the -TargetRootFolder parameter to the command. [PS] C:\>New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\alan.reid.pst -Mailbox john.smith -TargetRootFolder "Mailbox - Alan Reid" The import request will create the target folder and begin importing the PST file contents into it. You can view the status of the mailbox import request using the Get-MailboxImportRequest cmdlet. [PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest Name Mailbox Status ---- ------- ------ MailboxImport exchangeserverpro.net/company/users/head Of... InProgress By piping Get-MailboxImportRequest into Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics you can also monitor the progress of the import. [PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest Get-MailboxImportRequestStatistics Name Status TargetAlias PercentComplete ---- ------ ----------- --------------- MailboxImport InProgress john.smith 10 Importing PST Files into Personal Archives in Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Another way to use mailbox import requests is to import PST files directly into personal archive mailboxes. This is very useful for organizations who want to get rid of all PST files on the network. All you need to do is add the -IsArchive parameter to the command when importing the PST file to a mailbox user who has been enabled for archiving. [PS] C:\>New-MailboxImportRequest -FilePath \\esp-ho-ex2010a\pst\archive.pst -Mailbox alan.reid -IsArchive Completing the Mailbox Import Request When a mailbox import request is completed it remains on the server until it is removed by an administrator using Remove-MailboxImportRequest. To see all of the completed mailbox import requests run this command. [PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest where {$_.status -eq "Completed"} Name Mailbox Status ---- ------- ------ MailboxImport exchangeserverpro.net/company/users/head Of... Completed And to clear all completed mailbox import requests from Exchange run the following command. 2/6
[PS] C:\>Get-MailboxImportRequest where {$_.status -eq "Completed"} Remove-MailboxImportRequest Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Archive, Exchange 2010, Import, Mailbox, PST About Paul Cunningham Paul is a Microsoft Exchange Server MVP and publisher of Exchange Server Pro. He is also an MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, and an MCITP for Exchange Server 2007/2010. Connect with Paul on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Subscribe for Free: Mailing list members receive new articles straight to their inbox, access to special resources, and other exclusive announcements. Enter your email address Sign Up We respect your email privacy Related articles: How to Export Mailboxes with Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Counting Exchange Server 2010 Mailboxes with PowerShell Cannot Activate Database Copy: Content Index Catalog Files in Failed State How to Find all Exchange Server 2010 Mailboxes with Archive Enabled How to Enable or Disable POP3 Access for Exchange 2010 Mailboxes Comments 1. Jared says: August 5, 2011 at 10:38 pm How would I go about diagnosing a failed import? The import runs fine until it gets to 57% and then fails and it would be helpful if there was a log I could view to figure out what exactly happened. Thanks! August 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm Hi Jared, you can use the import request log/report to troubleshoot this. http://exchangeserverpro.com/exchange-server-2010-mailbox-import-request-logging 2. Gunnar Nordqvist says: September 20, 2011 at 3:11 pm Hi, i get the following message when trying to import an exported ex2007 mailbox, into ex2010 sp1 in hosting mode. Object 3d9698d3f25d4a4dad22740f22ef1c82gunnar-MailboxImport in organization : the linked object of property MailboxMoveTargetUser is hosting.local/microsoft Exchange Hosted Organizations/site1/gunnar test, which doesn t exist in the same organization with the object. + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (0:Int32) [New-MailboxImportRequest], DataValidationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 5B85B487,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.NewMailboxImportRequest Any ideas? September 20, 2011 at 9:34 pm 3/6
Hi Gunnar, sorry to say I have no experience with Hosting Mode installs so I m not sure what to do about that. 3. Wise Brown says: November 17, 2011 at 7:31 pm Thanks for sharing this useful post. It is really a very helpful feature for Exchange administrators. Now they do not need to go for MS Outlook and can directly import the data into Mailbox. Brown 4. Michael says: January 21, 2012 at 3:30 am I have calendar items to import to multible mailboxes. (Work Holidays) Have exported already and works with individual mailboxes but I need to import to 400 mailboxes. Is there a group, database or mailbox server command I can add. January 28, 2012 at 9:28 pm You could just use a bit of scripting to do bulk operations like that. Steve Goodman has an example of bulk export on his blog, you could adapt that pretty easily to import instead. http://www.stevieg.org/2010/07/using-the-exchange-2010-sp1-mailbox-export-features-for-mass-exports-to-pst/ 5. SAT says: January 31, 2012 at 10:32 am I found out the hard way that OWA does not display Contacts or Calendars if you have imported from a PST into an Online Archive after migration. We just did Notes to Exchange migration, where every Notes mailbox was exported first to PST, then ingested to an Online Archive. All users are to be using OWA and not the full Outlook Client. So no Contacts and no Calendars in OWA. We re having login to 250 Outlook clients manually tonight and drag and drop Contacts from Online Archive to Main Mailbox. I just started 10 of them and will be up all night.know of a quicker way to copy Contacts from Onlline Archive to Main Mailbox???? Others beware.cheers 6. Aaron says: April 17, 2012 at 8:02 am Thanks for this great tutorial 7. Gordy Rampling says: June 21, 2012 at 8:26 pm Paul, thanks for blogging this procedure. Much appreciated G 8. Brian says: August 8, 2012 at 5:52 pm Nice article, thank you! One question imported mail seems to have the date / time of import as the Sent date for example, in both OWA and Outlook. If you actually open a mail item the correct 4/6
dates are shown, but when you re looking at the list of imported items everything is listed by import date. Any solution to this? Cheers, Brian August 13, 2012 at 9:36 pm Hi Brian, which version of Outlook? I ve just exported an Exchange 2010 mailbox to PST, then imported it to another 2010 mailbox, and looked at the result in Outlook 2007. The Received column shows the correct date the email was received. The Created column shows today s date only. 9. Ann says: August 17, 2012 at 5:39 am We need to import several psts into a mailbox using a script that creates subfolders to store each pst but some are not working we get Error: Mailbox folder hierarchy is inconsistent. / FolderHierarchyIsInconsistentPermanentException. Any idea how to fix this o be able to import the file? Exchange 2010 Thanks! 10. Tim Miller says: August 17, 2012 at 6:20 am Can you tell me how I would use -TargetRootFolder to specify something deeper than one level? Inbox\Subfolder\AnotherSubfolder? Thanks for the article. I refer to it regularly. Tim Miller says: August 17, 2012 at 6:28 am I see now just need to use forward slash -TargetRootFolder Inbox/Subfolder/AnotherSubfolder. Leave a Comment Name * Email * Website Post Comment Notify me of followup comments via e-mail Free Updates Direct to your Inbox Join thousands of IT pros and stay up to date with the latest Exchange Server news, tips and tutorials delivered to your inbox. Plus access to subscriber-only resources and other exclusive announcements. Enter your email address 5/6
Sign Up We respect your email privacy Email Facebook Google+ Linkedin RSS Twitter Most Recommended Resources Latest Articles Deleted Delegates Still Receive Meeting Invites for Other Mailbox Users How to Deal with SSL Requirements for Exchange when Certificate Authorities Won t Issue You a Certificate A Guide to Back Pressure in Microsoft Exchange Server PowerShell Script: Check Hub Transport Servers for Back Pressure Events A Look at Exchange Server 2013 Resource Mailboxes Find us on Facebook Exchange Server Pro Like 509 people like Exchange Server Pro. Moahlodi A nand Terry Tarak Shihab Yudis Kiss Brian A nkur Tom Facebook social plugin Links Exchange Server Pro Homepage Exchange Server Pro Forums Exchange Server Training Exchange Server Migration Guides Recommended Exam 70-662 Training Exam 70-663 Training Exchange 2010 PowerShell Cookbook Digicert SSL Certificates About Paul Cunningham Paul is a Microsoft Exchange Server MVP and publisher of Exchange Server Pro. He is also an MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, and an MCITP for Exchange Server 2007/2010. Connect with Paul on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Return to top of page Copyright 2012 Disclosure Privacy Policy We are an Authorized DigiCert SSL Partner. 6/6