Restoring mailboxes from PST files

This article assumes you have already downloaded the necessary scripts from part I of this article. It further assumes the machine name and paths are same as mentioned in part I.

File restore is required in two scenario:

• You want to selectively restore files for a handful of users
• You have completely rebuilt your Exchange server

Selectively restoring one or more PST files

The RestoreExchange.cmd file, which is used to restore mailboxes, expects the existence of PST files in your C:\ExchangePST folder. This script is designed to restore every PST file that is present in C:\ExchangePST folder. Therefore, in order to selectively restore one or more PST, remove every other file but the ones you wish to restore from this folder and then run RestoreExchange.cmd.

An important piece information to keep in mind is that you must have completed Step 1, 2 and 3 mentioned in part I of this article. The script will result in errors if these conditions are not met.

Aliases

PST files are created using the value for Alias in Active Directory. For example, if a user John Doe has an alias JohnD, the PST file will be JohnD.pst. It is important that John has the same alias when restoring PST files. If a PST file is NOT found in the C:\ExchangePST folder, the RestoreExchange.cmd script will display a WARNING message on the console window.

Rebuilding Exchange after a crash

You must create users in AD and create mailboxes for users before importing their emails. Once mailboxes have been recreated, you follow the same steps mentioned above.