Mount the Mailbox Store

After installing Exchange and re-booting, in some cases the Exchange Information Store Service (ISS) will detect that the Exchange databases have been restored from a backup copy. If so, ISS will refuse to mount the Exchange databases until you inspect them. You will need to manually mount the databases using the Exchange System Manager.

You can determine if the Exchange databases are not mounted by looking at the Event Log. The Application Log will contain numerous red error messages from the Exchange services. The messages will report “Mail store is not available” and “Exchange Server computer is not available.”

There are two mailbox databases: the private store and the public store. You need to mount both of them.

Procedure for Exchange 2000/2003:

If you are running Exchange 2000/2003, use the following procedure to mount the mailbox stores:

1. Click on Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Exchange -> System Manager.
2. Open the branch First Organization -> Servers -> ComputerName -> First Storage Group.
3. Inspect the icon Mailbox Store. If there is a red X on the icon, you need to mount the mailbox store. (If there is no red X skip to step 5.)
4. Right-click on Mailbox Store and select Mount Store. This will mount the private mailbox store.
5. To verify that the store has been mounted, right-click on Mailbox Store. Select Refresh. This will allow you to open the item and display the user mailbox names.
6. Inspect the icon Public Folder Store. If there is a red X on the icon, you need to mount the public folder store. (If there is no red X skip to step 8.)
7. Right-click on Public Folder Store and select Mount Store. This will mount the public folder store.
8. To verify that the public store has been mounted, right-click on Public Folder Store. Select Refresh. This will allow you to open the item and display the public folder names. (By default the list will be empty unless you create public folders.)

Procedure for Exchange 2007:

If you are running Exchange 2007, use the following procedure to mount the mailbox databases:

1. Click on Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 -> Exchange Management Console.
2. Open the branch Server Configuration -> Mailbox.
3. In the center panel click on First Storage Group -> Mailbox Database so it is highlighted. If there is a gray down-arrow superimposed on the icon, you need to mount the mailbox database. (If there is no gray down-icon icon, skip to step 6.)
4. Right-click on Mailbox Database and select Mount Database. This will mount the private mailbox database.
5. To verify that the database has been mounted, click on Recipient Configuration -> Mailbox. This should display the user mailbox names.
(If you elected to not install the Outlook 2003 public folders, you are done. Otherwise proceed to the next step.)
6. In the center panel click on Second Storage Group -> Public Folder Database. If there is a gray down-arrow superimposed on the icon, you need to mount the public folder database.
7. Right-click on Public Folder Database and select Mount Database. This will mount the public folder database.

Manual Procedure

If you are unable to mount the mail store, it may be due to inadvertently running Exchange before installing the service pack. This will cause Exchange ISS to write to the database with an older version of the software that is not compatible with the newer database format. The workaround is to manually re-copy the mail store database again after applying the service pack. Afterwards, re-mount the mailbox stores as described above.

See Manually Move the Exchange Database.

Moving Exchange