Many a time Exchange administrator encounters an error while deleting a mailbox which prevents him from removing the database. This issue occurs because of some other default mailboxes which includes arbitration, & archive that need to be moved and removed from Exchange. In this article, I will be explaining steps on how to remove default mailbox database exchange 2013.

During the process of deleting Mailbox, the following error occurs which contains cause and solution both:

“This mailbox database contains one or more mailboxes, mailbox plans, archive mailboxes, or arbitration mailboxes. To get a list of all mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database . To get a list of all mailbox plans in this database, run the command Get-MailboxPlan. To get a list of archive mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database -Archive. To get a list of all arbitration mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database -Arbitration. To disable a non-arbitration mailbox so that you can delete the mailbox database, run the command Disable-Mailbox . To disable an archive mailbox so you can delete the mailbox database, run the command Disable-Mailbox -Archive. Arbitration mailboxes should be moved to another server; to do this, run the command New-MoveRequest . If this is the last server in the organization, run the command Disable-Mailbox -Arbitration -DisableLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed to disable the arbitration mailbox. Mailbox plans should be moved to another server; to do this, run the command Set-MailboxPlan -Database .”

Remove Default Mailbox from Exchange Server 2013

The mailboxes which need to be moved and removed are listed below:

• Arbitration mailbox
• Discovery Mailbox
• User Mailboxes
• Archive Mailbox

Move Mailbox Users

Execute the following command to move mailbox users from one database (Current Database) to another databse (New Database)

Move Archive Database

Execute the following command to view all the archive mailboxes

Run the below cmdlet to move archive database

Move Arbitration mailbox

Type the following command to move Arbitration mailbox

Move Public Folders

Execute the following command to list all the public folders

Execute the below command to move the public folders to new database

Remove Database

Run the following command in Shell to remove all moved request

In the last step, remove the mailbox database by running the below command

Conclusion: I have explained all the steps which are required while deleting Mailbox in exchange Server 2013. By executing above commands, all the default mailbox database will be successfully moved and deleted from Exchange 2013.