Troubleshooting › Exchange Server Errors › Unable to Create the User Account, Create the Mailbox, or Finalize the Mailbox

Unable to Create the User Account, Create the Mailbox, or Finalize the Mailbox

Valid on Exchange Server 2003, 2007 and 2010 systems.

Symptom

When performing a Document Level restore with a new user and mailbox creation, the agent:

• Creates a basic user with minimal rights in the Users container of Active Directory.
• Creates a mailbox for the user.
• Sends a request to the recipient update service and sends a message to the mailbox to finalize it.

If all three of these steps are successful, you can view the mailbox in the Exchange System Manager. If any of these steps fail, the mailbox will not restore.

Solution

There are several reasons why these steps may fail. Each reason, and the action you can take to resolve the error, is described below.

• The user account creation failed because the backup agent service account does not have enough rights to create a new account.

  Ensure that your backup agent service account has the appropriate rights assigned to it. For information on these requirements, see Backup Agent Service Account Requirements for Document Level Backup and Restore. Also, make sure that the backup agent service account is assigned membership to a group that has permissions over the Users container in Active Directory. For example the Account Operators group has these permissions by default.

• The user account or mailbox creation failed because the global catalog server could not be contacted or a Windows application or system error occurred.

  Check the Event Viewer Application Log and System Log for recent errors. Also, check the agent logs DBAEXCUserSummary.log and WinUserUpd.log.

• The mailbox creation failed because a disabled mailbox with the same name already exists.

  Check the Exchange System Manager to determine if there is a disabled mailbox with the same name. If you recently deleted a user account associated with the mailbox you are trying to restore, use the Run Cleanup Agent feature in the Exchange System Manager and purge the mailbox.

• The mailbox finalization failed because the Recipient Update Service failed to update the mailbox.

  Make sure that the Recipient Update Service is able to finalize mailboxes when an update is called. You may have to rebuild the Recipient Update Service if it is not performing properly. For more information on the Recipient Update Service, see the Microsoft documentation.

• The mailbox finalization failed because of Active Directory replication delays or Exchange Server cache delays. This failure can occur even if the user or mailbox was successfully created.

  In multi-domain controller environments or large Exchange Organizations, there may be delays before you can use the mailbox. If mailbox finalization fails, verify that the account appears in the Global Address List. If it appears in this list, repackage the failed mailbox with user and mailbox creation selected and run the job when the mailbox appears in the Exchange System Manager.