‘New-MailboxRepairRequest’ Cmdlet to Repair Exchange 2016 Mailbox Database

Summary: New-MailboxRepairRequest is considered as the successor of Exchange Isinteg utility. In this post, you learn everything about the New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet, including how to use the cmdlet to repair Exchange 2016 mailbox database.

There are a number of issues that Exchange Administrators experience in their daily routine, ranging from wrong public folder counts in the user mailbox and search items to inaccessible public folders and database corruption. With the introduction of New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet, it becomes easier for Exchange Admins to repair Exchange 2016 mailboxes and database.

Figure 1: New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet
IMPORTANT NOTE: New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet is only available in on-premises Exchange Server 2016. You can use an Exchange recovery software, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange when New-MailboxRepairRequest is not available or fails to repair Exchange mailbox due to severe corruption or lack of permissions.

More About New-MailboxRepairRequest

The New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet is used to find and fix Exchange mailbox corruption problems. This command can be executed to repair a particular mailbox or all mailboxes in the Exchange database.
When the cmdlet is executed, access to the specified mailbox (being repaired) is temporarily disrupted. However, if the command is run to repair all mailboxes in the database, the connection to only one mailbox that is being repaired is disrupted during the execution of the command. All other mailboxes prevailing in the specific database remain accessible and operational.

Why Use New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet to Repair Exchange Mailbox?

  • Repairs mailboxes online without dismounting the database
  • Doesn’t disrupt business continuity and workflow
  • Doesn’t affect other mailboxes. Users can access their mailboxes while the cmdlet repairs corrupt or damaged mailbox

What Mailbox Corruptions Can be Repaired using New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet?

The cmdlet can be used to repair corrupt Exchange mailbox in the following cases of mailbox corruption:

  • (ProvisionedFolder): Provisioned folders pointing incorrectly to parent folders that are not provisioned so far.
  • (SearchFolder): Search folder corruption issues can be detected and fixed.
  • (FolderView): View on folders that fail to return correct contents.
  • (AggregateCounts): Aggregate Counts on the folders that are not returning correct values.

Is there any Permission or Authorization Required to Use New-MailboxRepairRequest?

Before executing New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet, there are specific permissions that need to be assigned to you for Exchange 2016 database repair. There can be several parameters of the cmdlet that you are not permitted to access, if they are not included in the permissions being assigned to you.
To know more about the permissions required to run various New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet parameters, see this post.
The cmdlet works online with Exchange database. Hence, it doesn’t demand dismounting the database to repair mailboxes and fix errors.

Various Parameters to Detect Database Problem

You can use the following cmdlet parameters to detect what permissions are granted to them.

  • -CorruptionType: Specifies type of corruption in mailbox you want to repair
  • -Mailbox: Specifies mailbox you want to detect or repair
  • -Database: To repair all mailboxes in a database
  • -Archive: If you want to repair or detect archive associated with the mailbox
  • -Confirm: To show or hide confirmation prompt
  • -DetectOnly: It only detects error, doesn’t fix them
  • -DomainController: Specifies domain controller used by the cmdlet
  • -StoreMailbox: Specifies the GUID of the mailbox that you want to detect or fix
  • -Force: To run command immediately, without waiting
  • -WhatIf: To simulate and check what action a command will perform (if executed).

New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet Execution Examples for Mailbox Repair

Let’s understand how to use the New-MailboxRepairRequest to detect and repair Exchange 2016 database mailboxes with the help of following examples.

  • Detects and repairs all folder views for mailbox george@example.com

New-MailboxRepairRequest –Mailbox george@example.com –CorruptionType FolderView

  • Detects and reports SearchFolder and ProvisionedFolder corruption problems to Tom mailbox. The command does not repair the corrupt mailbox,

New-MailboxRepairRequest -Mailbox TOM -CorruptionType ProvisionedFolder,SearchFolder –DetectOnly

  • Detects and repairs AggregateCounts for all user mailboxes on database Example-DB01

New-MailboxRepairRequest -Database Example-DB01 -CorruptionType AggregateCounts

  • Detects and repairs various corruption issues for Tom’s mailbox and archive redundant items

New-MailboxRepairRequest -Mailbox Tom -CorruptionType ProvisionedFolder,SearchFolder,AggregateCounts,Folderview –Archive

  • Creates variables for identifying user Tom’s mailbox. Later on, this variable is used for specifying the values for StoreMailbox and Database parameters to generate a request. It will detect and correct all sorts of existing corruption issues.

$Mailbox = Get-MailboxStatistics Tom; New-MailboxRepairRequest-Database$Mailbox.Database-StoreMailbox$Mailbox.MailboxGuid – CorruptionType ProvisionedFolder,SearchFolder,AggregateCounts,Foldervie

Cmdlet Repair Status Check

Executing New-MailboxRepairRequest does not deliver any feedback information in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS). You will need to check feedback logs in Application in Event Viewer under MS ExchangeIS Mailbox Store.

Alternatively, you can use Get-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet to show the status of Exchange mailbox or database repair.

Figure 2: Get-MailboxRepairRequest to check repair status

While executing the New-MailboxRepairRequest cmdlet to repair Exchange 2016 mailboxes or the database, if you experience any error or repair task fails, you can use an advance Exchange mailbox repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Exchange. It is an Exchange repair and recovery software that can help you repair corrupt mailboxes, extract mail items from severely corrupt or damaged mailboxes and Exchange database. The tool can help you handle all sorts of corruption, irrespective of the intensity of damage, be it at a lower or a higher level. You may download it for free and try yourself Here.

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