How to reset system folders in Exchange Server 2003

This article describes how to create a new system folder in Exchange Server 2003 by using the Guidgen.exe and the ADSI Edit tools.

The Guidgen.exe tool randomly generates a GUID. You can use the GUID to rebuild a system folder by using the ADSI Edit tool. When you create a new system folder, the data that was previously contained in the original system folder is lost.

Create a new system folder

To create a new system folder, follow these steps.

Warning If you change the administrative group system folder GUID, do not restore previous backups of any public folder store in your Exchange organization. If you do so, you may cause duplicate system folders to be created, cause existing system folders to be destroyed, cause the system folder server's public database to stop replicating permanently, or prevent other public stores in the site from accepting replicas of system folders. To correct such problems, you may have to remove and rebuild public folder stores on some or all servers in your Exchange organization.

You cannot reset the GUID for only a single system folder. If you reset the GUID, the Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 offline address book and Free/Busy Information for a single administrative group are deleted. The Exchange Server 5.5 offline address book is named as follows:
Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

1. Download and install the Guidgen.exe tool. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288482.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288482.aspx)
2. Double-click Guidgen.exe.
3. Under GUID Format, click Registry Format (i.e. {xxxxxxxx-xxxx...xxxx}), click Copy, and then click Exit.
4. Start Notepad, and then open a blank document.
5. On the Edit menu, click Paste to paste the GUID into the document.
6. Remove all brackets and hyphens from the GUID.
7. Type 0x (note that "0" is the zero character here) before every two characters in the GUID, and then add a space character. The following is an example of a GUID before and after it is formatted to include the 0x and the space characters:
   Before:
   
   72D9691FA2194b798F24C0F6E5D2115F
   After:
   
   0x72 0xD9 0x69 0x1F 0xA2 0x19 0x4b 0x79 0x8F 0x24 0xC0 0xF6 0xE5 0xD2 0x11 0x5F
   Important If you are using ADSI Edit that is included with Windows Server 2003, do not type the 0x format. Put a space between each of the two characters, as in the following example:
   Before:
   
   72D9691FA2194b798F24C0F6E5D2115F
   
   After:
   
   72 D9 69 1F A2 19 4b 79 8F 24 C0 F6 E5 D2 11 5F
8. Start ADSI Edit.
9. Locate the following object:
   CN=AdministrativeGroup,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=Organization,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=Domain,DC=com
   To do so, expand Configuration Container [Computer.Domain.com], expand CN=Configuration, DC=Domain,DC=com, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN=Organization, and then expand CN=Administrative Groups.
10. Right-click CN=Administrative Group, and then click Properties.
11. Click the Attributes tab or the Attributes Editor tab. If you are not using ADSI Edit that is included with Windows Server 2003, go to step 12. If you are using ADSI Edit that is included with Windows Server 2003, complete the following lettered steps, and do not complete the remaining numbered steps:
    1. Under the Attributes column, click SiteFolderGuid.
    2. Click Edit, and then click Hexadecimal in the Edit Value As box.
    3. In the Value box, paste the GUID that you formatted in step 7 with space characters. Click OK, click Apply, and then click OK.
    4. Quit ADSI Edit, and then restart the Exchange-related services.
12. In the Select which properties to view box, click Optional.
13. In the Select a property to view box, click SiteFolderGuid.
14. In the Edit Attribute box, paste the GUID that you formatted in step 7 with 0x and space characters.
15. Click Set, and then click OK.
16. Quit ADSI Edit.
17. Restart the Exchange-related services.

Notes

• If there are multiple servers in the administrative group, you must restart the Exchange information store service on each server.
• After the system folder is created by using Guidgen.exe, the only replicas of the system folder that exist are located on the system folder server. All other replicas in the organization are destroyed as soon as public folder replication completes.

ADSI Edit is included with the Windows Support Tools. You can install the Windows Support Tools from the Support\Tools folder of the Windows 2000 Server and the Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM. For more information about how to install the Windows Support Tools for Windows 2000, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about Exchange Server 2003 tools and updates, visit the following Microsoft Web site: