XADM: Information Store Fails To Start With 1011 Error (149238)

SYMPTOMS

The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service fails to start and Event 2048 or 1087 is reported in the application log, along with one or more of the following error messages:

Unable to start the Microsoft Exchange Information Store. Error 0x3f3.

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The Information Store was restored from an off-line backup. Run ISINTEG -PATCH before restarting the Information Store.

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Windows could not start the Microsoft Exchange Information Store on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 1011.

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The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service could not be started. A service specific error occurred: 1011.

CAUSE

This error occurs because the Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs) used by the restored information store are old, and matching GUIDs may already exist. The GUIDs for this restored information store need to be replaced to ensure that they are unique.

RESOLUTION

This is by design. You need to patch the information store to replace the GUIDs used by the restored information store by running Isinteg - patch. Isinteg in patch mode will run against the entire Information Store (both the Pub.edb and Priv.edb files). It will generate new GUIDs and also patch replication information to prevent incorrect backfilling.

To run Isinteg -patch:

Ensure that the Directory and System Attendant Services are running. If either of these services are not running, Isinteg will fail with a DS_COMMUNICATIONS_ERROR message.
Change to the Exchsrvr\Bin directory, and type Isinteg -patch. The GUIDs will be replaced, and Isinteg will report that the Information Store has been updated successfully.
Restart the Information Store service.

MORE INFORMATION

The Windows NT Backup utility will automatically patch the Information Store when it is restored from an online backup only. If the Information Store is restored from an offline Windows NT Backup, you must run Isinteg.exe.

Isinteg.exe run in patch mode performs no integrity checks of the database. To check database integrity, please see pages 617 and 618 of the Microsoft Exchange Administrator's Guide. Running Isinteg.exe with no parameters will print a help screen describing command line switches and syntax.