You may not be able to synchronize an .ost file in Outlook 2003 with an Exchange mailbox after you migrate a mailbox in Exchange Server 2003

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SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, you may not be able to synchronize a Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 offline folder (.ost file) with an Exchange mailbox. This behavior may occur when the following conditions are true:

You use the Exchange Server Migration Wizard to move the Exchange mailbox for an Exchange profile.
Then, you use the Microsoft Exchange Profile Update tool to update that profile.

In this scenario, Outlook 2003 may start in recovery mode when you log on to the Exchange profile. Additionally, you may not be able to access your offline files and your folders that are in your .ost file.

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CAUSE

This issue may occur when you do not preserve the .ost file by running the Migration Wizard in clone mode before the destination mailbox is created. If you run the Migration Wizard after the destination mailbox has been created and has been logged on to, the Migration Wizard runs in default mode. When the Migration Wizard runs in default mode, the destination mailbox has a different globally unique identifier (GUID) than the original mailbox. Therefore, the .ost file will not synchronize with the new mailbox.

Note Offline folders (.ost files) that were created in earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook do not work with this feature.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, run the Migration Wizard in clone mode to preserve .ost files. To do this, follow these steps:

On the Exchange Server 2003 computer, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
Type the following:
"C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin\mailmig.exe" /m
In this case, C:\Program Files is the path where Exchange Server 2003 is installed.

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REFERENCES

For more information about how to run the Migration Wizard, see the "Running Exchange Server Migration Wizard" topic in chapter 5, "Inter-Organizational Migration," in the Microsoft TechNet Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide. To see this chapter, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx)

For more information about cached Exchange mode in Outlook 2003, see chapter 8, "Configuring Exchange Server 2003 for Client Access," in the Microsoft TechNet Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide. To see this chapter, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa02f087-7fe7-4eb7-b859-12632d762f9e.aspx)

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