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The first 10-12 sites I found offering solutions for my issue suggested everything from restoring the database to re-installing Exchange. Or the classic kidnapping case on TV, where the concerned party of the victim is given a ransom demand and they determine to locate and recover the victim rather than pay the ransom.
![outlook 2016 public folder contacts outlook 2016 public folder contacts](https://www.practical365.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image-1.png)
You know, you always try to figure out how the magician pulled off his trick. Houdini said, “What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.” So, how did removing the old 2003 tree in ADSIEdit axe the Public Folders? Before calling in Holmes and Watson to solve this curious case, I performed some quick research. I knew the Public Folders were housed on the 2010 server, and 2003 was turned off. Abracadabra! Presto Change-O! The curtain was pulled back and all the Public Folders had vanished! What in the! I checked the EMC and not only was the Public Folder database not mounted, it was gone! The next morning when users logged in and opened Outlook, we received quite a show.
OUTLOOK 2016 PUBLIC FOLDER CONTACTS INSTALL
Done! I was able to install Exchange 2016 and move on, or so I thought. Everything Exchange was running on the 2010 Exchange server, so I went the easy route and just removed the 2003 Exchange folder tree in ADSIEdit. The old Exchange server had all its services stopped and disabled, and except for rare occurrences was actually powered off. As part of the process, I had to clean up Server 2003 DC metadata, raise the domain and forest functional levels, and clean old Exchange 2003 server data out of the environment via ADSIEdit. Never was I so impressed with such a magician than Active Directory itself, when I was recently performing an Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016 migration. But for those who don’t understand it, it appears to be magic! See, it’s funny how when you know how a system works, you can make it roll-over, speak, and sit-up and beg, nothing really magical about it. For all you know, it’s a Klingon insult – “You’re a fool”, “Go jump off a cliff”, or maybe “Your mama wears army boots”! Good thing the CEO doesn’t speak Klingon, eh? Political correctness gone intergalactical, sheesh! Say you randomly generate a passphrase, ZiRth P’DmrCE cR’NaTs for your CEO. Hah! Who knew the passwords we sysadmins generate mean something in Klingon? Now we’ll have to be careful that our random passwords don’t offend Klingons. The phrase “Trust me” in Klingon is “jIHvaD yIvoqQo’”. I found out there really is a full-fledged Klingon language and even communities that actually speak it. Us sysadmins, have been accused of speaking Klingon and performing magic ourselves. Our eyes and our minds play tricks on us. These illusionists perform their acts so well that we are easily fooled. The audience was actually able to look all the way through the cabinet through a hole on the back side – no elephant! Impressive! More recently, we’ve seen David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty vanish, and for those who have seen the Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2 films, instant teleportation to Macau, and the flying plane illusion. Just over 100 years ago, Harry Houdini performed his famous “Vanishing Elephant” act in which he used a huge cabinet and some tactfully placed doors and curtains, and was successful at hiding the elephant to make it appear to his audience that the elephant had disappeared.
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A Tale About Missing Public Folders (Applies to 20)