Can you recover a deleted mailbox in exchange 2003?

We recently helped a client who deleted a mailbox in Exchange 2003, and they were nervous that they could not recover that information.
The answer is YES, you can recover it!!!

Remember, in Exchange 2003 and even in Exchange 2000, if you delete a mailbox, it really isn't deleted. The mailbox goes into a disconnected state for a default of 30 days. This period of 30 days is called the mailbox retention period, and you can reconnect the mailbox during that 30 days. At the end of the 30 day mailbox retention period the mailbox is then deleted and completely purged from the system. You can also delete the mailbox by choosing the purge it at any time.

This also means that if you mistakenly delete a mail-enabled user account, you can recreate that user object, and then reconnect that mailbox during the mailbox retention period. You should configure the deleted mailbox retention period at the mailbox store object level.

To Delete a Mailbox in Exchange 2000/2003:

1.Right-click the user in Active Directory Users and Computers.
2.Click Exchange Tasks.
3.Click Next on the Welcome page of the Exchange Task Wizard.
4.Click Delete Mailbox.
5.Click Next, click Next, and then click Finish. The mailbox is now flagged for deletion and will be permanently deleted at the end of the mailbox retention period unless you recover it.

To Reconnect (or Recover) a Deleted Mailbox:

1.In Exchange System Manager, locate the mailbox store that contains the disconnected mailbox.
2.Click the Mailboxes object under the mailbox store.
3.If the mailbox is not already marked as disconnected (the mailbox icon appears with a red X), right-click the Mailboxes object, and then click Cleanup Agent.
4.Right-click the disconnected mailbox, and then click Reconnect. Pick the appropriate user from the dialog box that appears.
5.Click OK. Now you see that the old mailbox is no longer listed under the name of the old user. Instead it has the name of the user it was reconnected to.

Note: Only one user may be connected to a mailbox because all globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) are required to be unique across an entire forest.

To Configure the Mailbox Retention Period:

1.Right-click the mailbox store, and then click Properties.
2.On the Limits tab, change the Keep deleted mailboxes for (days) default setting of 30 to the number of days you want.
3.Click OK.

If you would like assistance with recovering exchange mailboxes or configuring your active directory, contact us at MCDA Cre8tive Consulting Group, Inc and we will be more than happy to assist you.