Is It Possible To Delete A Disconnected Mailbox From Exchange 2010?

Is It Possible To Delete A Disconnected Mailbox From Exchange 2010?

It is possible to delete a disconnected mailbox from Exchange Server 2010 using the Remove-StoreMailbox cmdlet. This purges a disconnected mailbox and its entire contents from the mailbox database. Before doing this, be certain because the data loss is permanent. There are two types of disconnected mailboxes: disabled and soft-deleted. In a disabled mailbox, Microsoft Exchange keeps the deleted mailbox in the mailbox database.

It just switches it off to a disabled state. The user account is kept but Exchange attributes are removed from the corresponding Active Directory user account. With a soft-deleted mailbox, the mailbox is moved or transferred to a different mailbox database but Exchange doesn’t completely delete the mailbox from the source mailbox database after the transfer is complete.

The mailbox in the source mailbox database is switched to a soft-deleted state. Both disabled and soft-deleted mailboxes will remain in the source database until the mailbox retention period expires which is 30 days by default. So, in your case, you really don’t have to do anything after you disconnected your mailbox.

You just have to wait for the 30-day retention period to expire and your disconnected mailbox will be deleted automatically permanently. If you’re in a hurry and you want to delete it immediately, go to Permanently Delete a Disconnected Mailbox.