r/exchangeserver

Exchange Server 2016 with a new SE server. Schema upgraded. When running the latest Hybrid Connectivity Wizard on the new SE server at some point it mentions irreversible changes to connectors. The consulting company performing the work is recommending a path of application reconfiguration/modernisation to reduce risk to applications that are using the Exchange 2016 server as an SMTP relay or using basic auth (the project focus is Exchange support, not app modernisation). I believe the only connectors that will be changed are the hybrid connectors, which is the intended way forward, and understand you probably can't go back from that - custom receive connectors for apps on the Exchange 2016 server will not be affected?

Microsoft documentation doesn't mention the custom connectors, presumably because they are not a factor, and looking at the individual PowerShell cmdlets reinforces it.

Can anyone confirm they have transitioned from 2016 to SE and the HCW did not affect connectors, other than the hybrid ones, on the Exchange 2016 server?

Hey everyone,

I've been working on a tool that I think could be useful for sysadmins, forensic analysts, and anyone who needs to recover data from offline Exchange databases.

**The problem:** You have an EDB file (Exchange mailbox database) but no running Exchange server. Maybe it's from a decommissioned server, a backup, or a forensic investigation. Microsoft's tools require a working Exchange environment, and commercial recovery tools cost hundreds of dollars.

**The solution:** [MDB Explorer]() - a Python GUI application that opens EDB files directly and lets you:

- Browse mailbox folder structure (Inbox, Sent Items, Calendar, etc.)

- View emails with full headers, body (text & HTML), and metadata

- Extract and save attachments (including large ones)

- Export individual emails or entire mailboxes to EML format

- Export calendar items to ICS format

- Search/filter by date, sender, subject, attachment status

- CLI mode for scripting and batch operations

**Technical details:**

- Uses `libesedb` to read the ESE database format

- Handles LZXPRESS compression (Exchange compresses most data)

- Supports multiple encodings (UTF-8, Cyrillic, etc.)

- Cross-platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

- No Exchange server or Outlook required

**Installation:**

```

git clone

cd MDB_Explorer

# Windows: install_windows.bat

# macOS: ./install_mac.sh

# Linux: ./install_ubuntu.sh

```

It's completely free and open source. Would love feedback from anyone who tries it out!

**Use cases:**

- Disaster recovery when Exchange is down

- E-discovery and legal holds

- Digital forensics investigations

- Migrating data from old Exchange servers

- Accessing mailboxes from backup EDB files

GitHub:

I have a weird question. We're in the process of introducing Exchange SE into our env. Currently 2016 is still installed on 2 servers that are about to be decommissioned (finally!) The 2016 is a hybrid server and 2 cu's behind. EXO is complaining about it being outdated so I put the enforcement on pause. In preparation for SE i've extended schema and did a /prepareAD with it being successful.

Out of curiosity what would happen if I tried to installed the last latest CU for 2016 to get EXO to stop complaining? Would running the preparead command for the 2016 CU mess up the schema or whatever I just did for exchange se? Or could all that be skipped ?