Recent Discussions
Exchange health set unhealthy
Hello everyone! Some healthprobes on our Exchange 2016 Server have been reporting an unhealty state since the middle of February. OAB.Proxy, EWS.Proxy, Outlook.proxy and OutlookMapiHttp.Proxy. We have no mailboxes on the server, so its not critical, but I would still like to figure out what is going on. They all fail with "The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized" and if I try to invoke the probe i see this in the response: It looks like the SSL validation is not happening. Is it normal for the probe to use localhost for this? When I run "Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory" both internal and external virtual directry is set to our external url. Any insight is greatly appreciated!Outlook Search Folder for External Senders
I'm using the Outlook M365 desktop app on the current channel and Exchnage 2019 in Hybrid mode with Exchange Online. We route all mail inbound and outbound via Exchange Server. I'd like to create a search folder in Outlook to show only mails from external senders. The issue is the only criteria I can seem to create would rely on the From field and this seems to map to the SenderName on the MailItem object in Outlook. This is not the actual sender's mail address that would include the @domain etc but rather seems to be the senders name which is arbitrary from I can see e.g SomeSender. How to create a search folder based on the senders actual address?Exchange Online Restricts the Number of Dynamic Distribution Groups
Exchange Online is imposing a new tenant-wide limit of 3,000 Dynamic Distribution Groups. Few tenants might be affected, but the question might be asked why Microsoft is limiting DDGs at this point. Is it a cunning plan to prompt people to use dynamic Microsoft 365 groups instead? Or are some tenants abusing DDGs in weird and wonderful ways? Who knows, but the limit applies from early April 2025. https://office365itpros.com/2025/03/10/dynamic-distribution-groups-limit/
Exchange Online calendar sync tool
We have developed software that synchronizes Exchange calendars. For the past few months, we have been facing a new problem that we did not have before. We synchronize calendar entries based on the LastModifiedDateTime attribute of the Microsoft.Graph.Event class. We are puzzled by the fact that this attribute magically changes without any adjustments on our part. Do you have any advice on this?
Exchange Hybrid Wizard Error (413)
Hello, we are running into issues with the Hybrid Wizard. On the last point validation, we always getting the same error and dont know what to do, cuz it says the external server is responding with.... See Log attached. 2025.03.05 08:43:02.035 *ERROR* 10349 [Client=UX, Page=HybridConnectorInstall, Thread=8] The connection to the server '6499703f-91f1-4369-a729-b40098fdd276.resource.mailboxmigration.his.msappproxy.net' could not be completed., The call to 'https://6499703f-91f1-4369-a729-b40098fdd276.resource.mailboxmigration.his.msappproxy.net/EWS/mrsproxy.svc' failed. Error details: The remote server returned an unexpected response: (413) RequestEntityTooLarge.., The remote server returned an unexpected response: (413) RequestEntityTooLarge. OriginalFailureType: ProtocolException, WellKnownException: MRSRemote None MRSRemote Remote stack trace: Remote trace: at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpResponseMessageHelper.ValidateResponseStatusCode() at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpResponseMessageHelper.ParseIncomingResponse(TimeoutHelper timeoutHelper) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory`1.HttpClientRequestChannel.HttpClientChannelAsyncRequest.ReceiveReplyAsync(TimeoutHelper timeoutHelper) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.RequestChannel.RequestAsync(Message message, TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ClientReliableChannelBinder`1.RequestAsync(Message message, TimeSpan timeout, MaskingMode maskingMode) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.RequestReliableRequestor.OnRequestAsync(Message request, TimeSpan timeout, Boolean last) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ReliableRequestor.RequestAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ClientReliableSession.OpenAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ReliableRequestSessionChannel.OnOpenAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ReliableRequestSessionChannel.OnOpenAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.OnOpenAsyncInternal(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.System.ServiceModel.IAsyncCommunicationObject.OpenAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.OnOpenAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.OnOpenAsyncInternal(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.System.ServiceModel.IAsyncCommunicationObject.OpenAsync(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.CallOpenOnce.System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.ICallOnce.Call(ServiceChannel channel, TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.CallOnceManager.CallOnce(TimeSpan timeout, CallOnceManager cascade) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(MethodInfo targetMethod, Object[] args) at generatedProxy_3.ExchangeVersionInformation(VersionInformation, VersionInformation&) at Microsoft.Exchange.Connections.Common.WcfClientWithFaultHandling`2.<>c__DisplayClass4_0.<CallService>b__0() in \_\sources\dev\common\src\Connections\Common\WcfClientWithFaultHandling.cs:line 76 at Microsoft.Exchange.Net.WcfClientBase`1.CallService(Action serviceCall, String context)Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2019 Migration
Old installation getting around to upgrading. Here are my problems\thoughts? Current environment is: Single 2008R2 server, AD, Exch 2010. Moving to Server 2019 vm's. Have a 2019 guest as a DC but forest level still 2008 R2. Exch 2019 requires level to be 2012+. So, after I move the file share and SQL to their own guests (everything on single physical machine currently) plan is to demote current "server2". Exchange likely will complain about no DC but then add as member of the 2019 guest DC. Then bump the forest level to 2012? Then install Exch 2019 to its own guest. Then move the mailboxes from the 2010 store to the 2019 store. Remove and uninstall Exch 2010. Then possibly bump the forest level to current? Thoughts\issues: Will Exch 2010 behave correctly while demoting "server2" and then adding the machine to the domain? Is it possible to go directly to Exch 2019 from Exch 2010 or do I have to create an Exch 2016 as an interim step? I would really hate to export all the mailboxes, remove Exch 2010, bump the forest, install Exch 2019, and import the mailboxes. Thanks in advance,Transport Rule and Mail-enabled Security Group: Delayed Evaluation of Group Members
I have the following transport rule: If the message: Is sent to a member of group 'group-name@domain' Take the following actions: Redirect the message to 'shared-mailbox@domain' and Stop processing more rules When I add or remove members of the mail-enabled security group it takes a very long time until the transport rule seems to notice. Meaning, after adding members the messages are still NOT redirected and after removing member the messages ARE still redirected. It takes about 4 hours until the change of the group becomes effective. After that the rule works perfectly fine. Did anyone come across this too and is there any way to circumvent this?Public Folder Calendar Creation
We use basic public folder calendars for a number of things. These were originally hosted on on-prem Exchange, and are now on Exchange Online. I normally create them in Outlook, and select 'calendar items' from the list of types. However, I'm currently testing New Outlook, and that doesn't appear to have any ability to create public folders (you can only add existing ones to the favourites list). So I've looked in Exchange Online, and although that can create public folders, it seems to only create basic empty public folders, with no ability to select calendar items to make a calender. Am I missing something obvious, or is it actually impossible to create public folder calendars if using a New Outlook / Exchange Online setup? ThanksUsing iOS Build Numbers in Exchange ActiveSync Device Access Rules
A change made in late 2024 allows Microsoft 365 tenants to use IOS build numbers in Exchange ActiveSync device access rules. Apparently, the idea is that tenants can insist that people use iOS devices with very specific build numbers (like iOS 18.3.1 22D72) before the devices can synchronize with Exchange Online mailboxes. You never know when you might need the feature (or so they say). https://office365itpros.com/2025/03/06/device-access-rule-ios-build/
After Exc 2019 Cu15 update Outlook problem
After the Exchange 2019 CU15 update, Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2021 keeps asking for a password. When I check the operating systems, I see that they are versions up to Windows 10 Pro 1607 and 22H2. I wonder if there is a feature that affects older operating systems? Do you have any ideas?How to clear the Discovery Holds folder
To find whether this discovery holds folder is completely full, use the below-mentioned command. Step 1: Connect-ExchangeOnline and then, Step 2: Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity user | select name,foldersize Note: This DiscoveryHolds folder is having a limit of 100 GB. If it is full, we will get issues like "Unable to clear deleted items folder", "deleted items are getting auto-restored" etc., One of the reasons for this folder is full: If Organization Hold is turned on(All Exchange mailboxes are selected in Compliance Retention Policy) or the Individual ID is selected on Compliance Retention Policy. Solution: Please try the below-mentioned steps to overcome this issue. Step 1: Exclude the DiscoveryHolds full ID in the Compliance Retention policy or run the below-mentioned commands in PowerShell. Connect-IPPSSession and then, Set-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "Compliance Retention Policy Name" -AddExchangeLocationException user for multiple users, Set-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "Compliance Retention Policy Name" -AddExchangeLocationException user1, user2, user3 Now on PowerShell, Connect-ExchangeOnline and then, Set-Mailbox -Identity user -RetainDeletedItemsFor 0 and then run the below-mentioned command two times. Start-Managedfolderassistant -Identity user Start-Managedfolderassistant -Identity user After 2-3 minutes, run the below-mentioned commands. Get-Mailbox "user" | FL DelayHoldApplied,DelayReleaseHoldApplied If the output is received as true for any above-mentioned holds, then run the below-mentioned commands. Set-Mailbox user -RemoveDelayHoldApplied Set-Mailbox user -RemoveDelayReleaseHoldApplied and then run the below-mentioned command two times. Start-Managedfolderassistant -Identity user Start-Managedfolderassistant -Identity user After 2-3 minutes, this DiscoveryHolds folder will become zero as per the below-mentioned screenshot. This process helped me a lot. If you have any doubts/concerns/suggestions about this post, please comment below. Best Regards, Venkat Kiran Kona.
Converting Soft-deleted EOX Mailboxes to Inactive EOX Mailboxes
Hello. In our organization we are prone to actioning PATI requests (Public Access to Information). So when an employee leaves, we must retain the mailbox almost indefinitely. Moving forward, an active retention policy that converts any un-licensed user or shared mailboxes into inactive mailboxes is in place. What to do with the many soft-deleted mailboxes, is the question now. Other than re-enable each mailbox with a license, then allowing the policy to work, is there a PowerShell script or scripts, that will convert the mailbox somehow from soft-delete to inactive? Any ideas anyone? Thanks in advance.
Windows Handle error when using Connect-Exchange Onlinew Module version 3.7.
The following error is received when trying to connect to exchange online. Windows 11 Exchange Online Management 3.7.1 PowerShell 5.1 Error attached. On another Windows 11 Laptop, the 3.6 version of the module works without error. I am having the user downgrade to 3.6 and see if it fixes the error. I have upgraded this to 3.7.1 and now get the same error. Any help woudl be much appreciated. I can't past the error. Won't let me post.
Aliasses not showing up in Outlook (classic)
Hello, We have a little issue with aliasses that are configured for some users. New configured aliasses are not shown in Outlook (classic); aliasses that are added in the past are visible. When I use OWA, the new alias is also visible. And also in the offline addressbook the properties are up to date. How can I trigger Outlook to synchronize the new added aliasses? Kind regards, ArjanIssues after Exchange 2019 CU15 install
Hello, We have some issues with our Exchange server. After CU15 install we have high(er) CPU usage at the server and slow(er) Outlook (online no cache mode enabled) connection at the client. MAPI over HTTP and Exchange Extended Protection is enabled. Have anybody else who have the same issues?
Information about Exchange SE trough SPLA
Does anyone have any information about the possible availability of Microsoft Exchange Subscription Edition (SE) through SPLA ? As you may know, SharePoint Subscription Edition (SE) was already released since a few years, however it never approved by Microsoft to be used in SPLA, it is not mentioned in the SPUR and they don’t provide the installations keys for this version to SPLA hosters. If they follow the same policy with Exchange SE, we will not have any solution to run an Exchange Server on a supported version after 14th of October 2025 when Exchange 2019 reaches end of support. Thanks for your comments ThierryUnable to open PDF attachments from shared mailbox with OWA
Hi, we are using Exchange 2019 (Build 15.02.1544.011) and are experiencing an issue with Outlook Web Access (OWA) where PDF files cannot be previewed or downloaded. This problem only occurs when opening a shared mailbox in OWA and trying to open a PDF file from an attachment. In the personal mailbox, the files can be previewed and downloaded without any issues. When opening the PDF in a shared mailbox, the following error message appears: {"Body":{"ErrorCode":500,"ExceptionName":"ThreadAbortException","FaultMessage":"Thread was being aborted.","IsTransient":false,"ResponseCode":"ErrorInternalServerError"}} This error occurs in Edge as well as in other browsers. Is this problem already known? Thanks, AlexUnable to Add Exchange 2019 Email Account (Ionos) to Outlook (New) on Windows 11
Hello everyone, unfortunately, I am unable to add my Ionos (Exchange 2019) email account to the Outlook Windows app. On Windows 10, it was still possible to manually configure an Outlook account, which worked fine. However, on Windows 11, this option is no longer available, and I can’t revert to the previous version of Outlook either. When I try to add the account by selecting Microsoft 365 - Office 365, Exchange and entering my email address, I always get the error message: We couldn't find a work or school account with that email address. I have already contacted Ionos, but they couldn’t solve the issue either. They mentioned that Microsoft doesn’t allow setting up an Exchange account this way, even though the option is listed in the selection menu. Does anyone know how to fix that? Thank you very much!Exchange Online (hybrid vs. cloud conundrum)
Im not sure how to proceed with a deployment of Exchange Online. I have an on-prem forest with two sub domains. Years ago, this was a shared exchange on-prem org. Sub domain A.contoso.local migrated to gmail. Sub domain B.contoso.local migrated to hybrid exchange online. Now, years later, A.contoso.local wants to migrate from gmail to exchange online cloud, not hybrid. A.contoso.local user attributes are a mess, there are some users with a targetAddress of SMTP:user@A.contoso.local, some with proxyAddresses of SMTP:user@A.contoso.local, smtp:useralias@A.contoso.local, some have various msExch* attributes, while some have one or none of those attributes. All users have their mail attribute set appropriately. Entra ID Connect has been syncing for years but only recently has a license for Exchange online been provisioned, initially for just a few users. Those users mailboxes were created automatically as a result of assigning the license. Where thigs start getting weird is with Contacts in the Exchange online admin portal. Only some of the entra users show up there, maybe only 2/3's of them, they show as ContactType = MailUser. Actual Contacts sync fine from on-prem to Contacts. Contacts show up fine in the GAL too. Also strange that when the on-prem users proxyAddresses attributes change, they are not updating in EntraID. Sync works fine on other attributes otherwise. We arent quite ready to migrate the gmail users to exchange online, first we are rolling out Teams. We want to get the Contacts \ GAL working correctly so that people in Teams can use it as the source of truth. But like mentioned, only 2/3 of the users are there in the GAL. Even then, none of them show up in the Teams People app unless you search for them explicitly. No, they arent flagged as excluded from the addressbook. Considering we eventually want to be Cloud, not hybrid, do we need to clean up any of the old msExch* attributes? Manually manage them? Why arent those attributes syncing properly through entra id connect sync? Why dont GAL users show up in Teams unless searched explicelty? Why dont Contacts show up at all in teams when they show fine in the GAL in Outlook online just fine? Sorry, lots of questions I know. Hopefully someone can help clarify any of this.
Exchange Room Resource Name Change
We have Room resources on Exchange online which were migrated from on-premise exchange server, last year we completely migrated the on-premise exchange to EXO, now when we had to change the names of these room resources due to some relocations of the meeting rooms, we had to rename it from the on-premise ad since it is syncd. I have just renamed the AD object property(display name, SMTP etc), and once it is syncd via AAD, now could see the new name from the EXO but when we use Get-Mailbox -Identity via Exchange online powershell its still showing up the old name, is there any other on-premise ad attribute which needs to be changed?
Recent Blogs
- We’re introducing new tenant-level outbound email limits (also known as the Tenant External Recipient Rate Limit or TERRL).Feb 24, 2025
- We are announcing a change in behavior of the EWSEnabled tenant-wide switch in Exchange Online.Feb 20, 2025
