Hello I'm looking for a possibility to convert existing contacts to user mailboxes. The goal is, to use the same e-mail adress for the new mailbox. This should also remove the forwarding... Is there a way to get this to work? Thanks Norbert

Norbert, I am reasonably sure that this is not possible; there are a number of things. A contact is a completely different type of object in Active Directory than a user account with a mailbox. Your best bet is simply to document everything about the contact (such as the e-mail address and alias), then delete the contact, create a user account, and then enable the user's mailbox. You could automate this with VBScript or the Exchange Management Shell, but it might not be worth the time it would take to invest in that unless you have a lot of contacts to convert to users.

Hello Jim Bad to hear this, I hoped on a convert-contact cmdlet;-) Could it work to make a query on a OU, export the Contacts informations into a CSV, delete the objects and create a new mailbox based on this exported information? Is this possible with simple PS commands? There are around 250 contacts to "migrate"... Thanks Norbert

Hi, Norbert, Jim is right about the convert action. You cannot convert one object to another once its been created, you will know it from the KB below http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318257 Notes: whatever you do, please backup your valuable data before! And try to test on some virtual environment before using! Heres an article that provides a script which create AD user and mailbox, hope it can help http://whitepapers.silicon.com/0,39024759,60173470p,00.htm Other Related Resources: How to use Csvde to import contacts and user objects into Active Directory http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327620/en-us cmdlet: export contact to csv file <csvde r objectclass=contact f c:\contact.csv> (PS: I'll testing by using CSVDE, see if can add mail-enabled user object)

Hi, Norbert, I tested by using CSVDE, and it is working Step by step (Please test in virtual machine before you put it in product environment!): 1. First, we export user accounts attribute as reference Csvde r objectclass=user f c:\user.csv 2. Remove unnecessary and protected attributes, just remain the following attributes DN|objectClass|cn|distinguishedName|displayName|homeMTA|proxyAddresses|homeMDB|mDBUseDefaults|mailNickname|name|sAMAccountName|showInAddressBook|legacyExchangeDN|mail|msExchHomeServerName|givenName|userPrincipalName|sn|userAccountControl 3. Now you can create mail-enabled user account by filling in these attributes Notes: lower down your password max length and complexity at first Notes: Please bear in mind that Csvde can only create object, its unable to modify or delete object! 4. Based on the csv that export before to fill in these attributes 5. Now, we import the file <csvde I f c:\userchanged.csv> 6. You can see user account in ADUC now, ESM will show users mailbox after login once My local testing environment: Windows 2003 SP1, Exchange 2003 SP2/Widows 2003 SP2, Exchange 2007 Resources: Using CSVDE and LDIFDE to Create User Accounts http://www.2000trainers.com/windows-2000/csvde-ldifde/ CSVDE - Creating Mailboxes http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/Logon/Logon_CSVDE_mailbox.htm#1)_mailnickname

Hi,you can simply "disable" mail contact. Exchange information will be deleted from user object.Now you are able to assign a mailbox to this user object. And you are done.

Hi! We are also facing similar situation. We would like to convert existing email enabled contact into email enabled user incase we remove contact and recreate them as users we will face problem of old contact - auto complete address book entry (.NK2) in the user end. Is there any way out wherein we disable/change physical email address of email enabled contact to some other email address so that we can avoid NK2 problem.

To avoid the NichName cache you could append the x500 address to the contacts using AdModifyBrian Rota