Default permissions for the Administrator account deny Send As/Receve As - these are required for Exmerge{width=”600”}When attempting to either import a PST file into an Exchange mailbox; or exporting data to a PST file through using Exmerge the following error is not uncommon:

Error opening message store (EMS). Verify that the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is running and that you have the correct permissions to log on. - 0x8004011d

Before troubleshooting this error check the following:

  1. The Information Store Service is running and the relavant mailbox store is mounted.
  2. If extracting to/importing from a mailbox in the Recovery Storage group ensure the mailbox has not been moved.
  3. Mailboxes must already exist; Exmerge will not create them on-the-fly
  4. Mailboxes' user accounts must be enabled and exist in the Global Address List.

If the above potential issues have been ruled out the most likely cause is that the user performing the Exmerge does not have the necessary permissions to read/write to the mailbox. Contrary to popular opinion, by default Exchange Full Administrators cannot read every mailbox in a domain.

To setup the required permissions it is recommended to create a new user for this purpose as:

:#Depending on the internal metrics of your organisation it may not the appropriate to allow all users of the Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins group access to all the mailboxes.

:#By default, the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins group have Allow and Deny rights for Send As and Receive As permissions on the Mailbox store(s). These rights are required for Exmerge to function and it may not be a good idea to alter the default, inherited permissions.

To create a new account and give it access to all mailboxes:

  1. Create a normal account, do not add it to any administrative groups.
  2. Give the account Full Control to the mailbox store:
    1. From Exchange System Manager right-click the relavant mailbox store, choose properties and the Security tab.
    2. Add the new user and give it Full Control to the database, ensure that Send As and Receive As are ticked, under Allow.

Depending on the configuration of your network changes made can take up to 15 minutes to take effect.

Category:Exchange