ExMerge needs little introduction with Exchange Administrators. It enables the import and export of emails between mailboxes and personal folder files (.pst). ExMerge is often used to perform brick level backups, enabling the backup/restore of individual mailboxes.

This tool certainly lacks the polish of commercial applications. The non-existent installation is the most striking missing element. Indeed installing it manually may involve quite a few steps.

In this article I go through the details of running ExMerge from a Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2000 Professional SP4 machine. The article illustrates the steps as applied against Exchange 2003. Nevertheless the same procedure could be applied to Exchange 2000 as well.

In summary these are the key steps:

1. Install the Exchange System Management Tools
2. Install ExMerge
3. Configure Permissions

Installing the Exchange System Management Tools

ExMerge 2003 requires the Exchange 2003 System Management Tools to be installed. In turn this brings along a couple more requirements that are typically missing on XP and 2000 Pro machines.

1. Install the Internet Information Services Snap-In

   1. From the Add/Remove Windows Components select Internet Information Services (IIS) and click on Details.

      

   2. Set the checkbox for the Internet Information Services Snap-In component and proceed with the installation.

2. Install the Windows Server Administration Tools Pack AdminPak.msi. If installing ExMerge on Windows XP then follow this link to get the latest AdminPak from the Microsoft Download centre.

   In case of Windows 2000 Pro you will need the Windows 2000 Server CD. AdminPak.msi is located under the setup\i386 directory.

3. Install the Exchange System Management Tools. It is now time for the Exchange 2003 CD. Run setup.exe under the setup\i386 directory.

   At the wizard, select 'Install' for the Microsoft Exchange System Management Tools component as shown below and proceed with the installation.

   

   Finally check the Exchange SP level at the server and apply this to the ExMerge machine so as to bring it inline.

Install ExMerge

The latest ExMerge is available for download from the Exchange Server 2003 Tools page. This version may be used to import/export from any of Exchange 5.5, 2000 and 2003 server but requires the Exchange 2003 System Management Tools to be in place on the machine running ExMerge.

If you haven't yet started migrating to Exchange 2003, then you would have installed the Exchange 2000 System Management Tools in the previous steps. In that case you will find ExMerge on the Exchange 2000 CD under the Support directory.

The ExMerge package will include ExMerge.doc, ExMerge.ini and ExMerge.exe. As the extensions imply, these contain documentation, application settings, and the application executable respectively. Copy all files to the Exchange bin directory created by the Exchange System Management Tools installation.