We are running Exchange 2010 sp1. We need to restore some contacts for one user and we have a good backup. When running this command: Restore-Mailbox -Identity “bob lin” -RecoveryDatabase RDB1 -RecoveryMailbox “s s” -TargetFolder Backup –BadItemLimit 1000 We get this message: “Failed to open mailbox by GUID with error: The operation failed., error code: -1056749260'. This operation may take a long time to complete”. (the result attached below). I can ping the exch-mail01 and access my email without any issues. I posted this question in Microsoft Partner forum. One of Microsoft engineer said “if the user whose mailbox is to be restored is still available in the AD, then we will not be able to restore the mailbox and we need to delete the account from AD first. At this point, I suggest you delete the user account for that mailbox (if exists) and then try the restore again”. That doesn’t make sense. We just want to restore some contacts for the user from November 1st backup. If we delete the account, will she lose her all current emails? When I tried to restore her mailbox to one folder of my mailbox at he first time, it did restore some items but stopped because the errors. that is why I add "–BadItemLimit 1000 to the command line. It must have a way to restore the mailbox without deleting the account. Any suggestions? Confirm Are you sure you want to perform this action? Recovering mailbox content from mailbox 'S S' in the recovery database 'RDB1' to the mailbox for 'Bob Lin (BLin@chicagotech.net)'. This operation may take a long time to complete. [Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [?] Help (default is "Y"): Error was found for Bob Lin (BLin@chicagotech.net) because: Error occurred in the step: Opening source mailbox. Fail ed to open mailbox by GUID with error: The operation failed., error code: -1056749260 + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (0:Int32) [Restore-Mailbox], RecipientTaskException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 9E12ABB2,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.RestoreMailbox RunspaceId : 0ce7e9ca-fc63-419c-b7cd-ea59b5b6a5aa Identity : chicagotech.net/Users/Bob Lin DistinguishedName : CN=Bob Lin,CN=Users,DC=chicagotech,DC=net DisplayName : Bob Lin Alias : BLin LegacyExchangeDN : /o=cbg/ou=DOMAIN/cn=Recipients/cn=BLIN PrimarySmtpAddress : BLin@chicagotech.net SourceServer : EXCH-MAIL02.chicagotech.net SourceDatabase : RDB1 SourceGlobalCatalog : 2008DC1 SourceDomainController : TargetGlobalCatalog : 2008DC1 TargetDomainController : TargetMailbox : chicagotech.net/Users/Bob Lin TargetServer : EXCH-MAIL01.chicagotech.net TargetDatabase : Exec Database 1 MailboxSize : 219.9 MB (230,578,764 bytes) IsResourceMailbox : False SIDUsedInMatch : SMTPProxies : SourceManager : SourceDirectReports : SourcePublicDelegates : SourcePublicDelegatesBL : SourceAltRecipient : SourceAltRecipientBL : SourceDeliverAndRedirect : MatchedTargetNTAccountDN : IsMatchedNTAccountMailboxEnabled : MatchedContactsDNList : TargetNTAccountDNToCreate : TargetManager : TargetDirectReports : TargetPublicDelegates : TargetPublicDelegatesBL : TargetAltRecipient : TargetAltRecipientBL : TargetDeliverAndRedirect : Options : Default SourceForestCredential : TargetForestCredential : TargetFolder : \Backup\Recovered Data - S S - 11/28/2010 10:52:26 PSTFilePath : RecoveryMailboxGuid : 7944169f-b09f-4c47-9f86-565d1cd06bff RecoveryMailboxLegacyExchangeDN : /O=CBG/OU=NTDOMAIN/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=SS RecoveryMailboxDisplayName : S S RecoveryDatabaseGuid : 7ca5781b-8a31-4e86-b04c-896aebd87d76 StandardMessagesDeleted : 0 AssociatedMessagesDeleted : 0 DumpsterMessagesDeleted : 0 MoveType : Restore MoveStage : Move StartTime : 11/28/2010 10:52:38 AM EndTime : 11/28/2010 10:52:39 AM StatusCode : -1056749260 StatusMessage : Error occurred in the step: Opening source mailbox. Failed to open mailbox by GUID w ith error: The operation failed. ReportFile : E:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Logging\MigrationLogs\restore-Mailbox 20101128-105226-0426033.xml ServerName : EXCH-MAIL02.chicagotech.net Bob Lin, MS-MVP Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.howtonetworking.com

I haven't play around to Exchange 2010 that much but why don't you use Restore Storage Group (RSG) and then export the mailbox out to pst and when you find the contact import that contact back into the user's mailbox.

Hi, Please try to use New-MailboxRestoreRequest instead for a test. For more information to restore the mailbox information, please refer to the following article. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff829875.aspx Thanks.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

New-MailboxRestoreRequest works. Thank you.Bob Lin, MS-MVP Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.howtonetworking.com