Handling Information Store Corruption on Exchange Server in a Single Site

Read time 6 minutes

Corruption in Exchange server database is an undesirable scenario, but it is quite a common phenomenon, and whenever it happens, the information stored in the database is the most affected component. The Exchange database files are Pub1.edb, and Priv.edb gets damaged, and the users will find critical emails, notes, contacts, and other data inaccessible. Whenever a data is unavailable, it gives a particular warning or error message. In such cases, it becomes inevitable to repair the corrupt Exchange and restore to its original state.

Whenever Exchange database faces corruption, you might come across symptoms mentioned below:

• Information Store Service won’t start.
• If it starts, you can’t stop Information Store Service and other dependent services.
• Information Store becomes irresponsive, and CPU usage reaches 100%.
• Users are unable to send/receive emails even if stored Information Store is restarted.

When you try restoring Exchange Server Database from offline backup and run ISINTEG (Information Store Integrity Checker) utility, you may face an error message that says:

• Error 4294966746: JET_errDatabaseInconsistent
• While mounting mailbox store using Exchange System Manager, an error message appears that says:
  Unable to Mount the Mailbox Store with error c104173c “The Information Store is Busy.”
• Also, those using Exchange System Manager for the mounting database might receive an error message given below:
  An internal processing error has occurred. Try restarting the Exchange System Manager or the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, or both.

The reason behind these errors messages may be a virus infection, improper shutdown, operating system failure, etc. To overcome these errors, you can either use the inbuilt ESEUTIL or ISINTEG tool or take assistance from a professional tool.

ESEUTIL Tool

ESEUTIL tool is present in the bin folder of your Exchange Server. There are various switches which allow you to defragment, copy, repair or restore the database. The usability of the Eseutil tool is quite broad, and you can perform following actions using multiple switches–

• ESEUTIL /D – To defragment the database
• ESEUTIL /R – To run a software recovery process on database
• ESEUTIL /G – To check the database integrity
• ESEUTIL /K – To verify checksum in the database
• ESEUTIL /P – To repair the database
• ESEUTIL /C – To restore the database using hard recovery
• ESEUTIL /M – To diagnose and troubleshoot database errors
• ESEUTIL /Y – To copy database files

ISINTEG is another inbuilt tool within the Exchange server which checks database integrity. It also repairs the errors after finding them. It uses the following switch to check and repair the database –

• -pri – Check Private Information Store
• -pub – Check Public Information Store
• -fix – Repair Information Store
• -patch – Offline backup restore patch

A professional tool should be able to remove any corruption and bring all the data back to you. Kernel for Exchange Server Recovery is one such a tool which has all the feature for quick Exchange recovery. It can recover the Priv.edb and Pub1.edb databases easily. Also, it has a friendly user interface. Let’s go through its recovery procedure in brief and see the outcome –

1. Launch the software and click Offline EDB file.
   
2. Browse the dismounted or offline EDB file from its location. You can also search for EDB files within a drive or folder.
   
3. Select the scan mode among Standard Scan and Deep Scan.
   
4. After soon as any EDB file is recovered, it is placed in a tree structure. You can browse any mailbox item, select its content, and watch its preview with the help of preview option.
   
5. Now, to save the EDB file content, you may choose multiple destinations like a PST file, live Exchange, Outlook profile, Office 365, and a public folder. Here, a PST file is selected (using the Add Destination button).
   
6. Select Create New PST File or Existing PST file. Then browse the destination to save the PST file.
   
7. A new PST file is created in the destination list.
   
8. Now, you can select various output methods like copy-paste, drag-drop, or export messages.
   
9. After saving the files in the destination PST file, a confirmation message will be shown to you, and the files will be present in the destination.
   

Conclusion

This article includes all the necessary methods and techniques to handle multiple types of Exchange database corruption. You can use any of these methods. But if you want a 100% recovery with complete data integrity, then take the service of Kernel for Exchange Database Recovery. It is a feature-rich, readily usable, and highly effective software. It can repair corrupt EDB files of any size.