HOW TO: Convert a user mailbox to a resource mailbox

When creating a new mailbox (or a mailbox-enabled user) in Exchange Server 2007, you have the option of creating a user mailbox or a resource mailbox - the latter for conference rooms, equipment like projectors, etc.

If you've already created a user mailbox instead, and want to convert it to a resource mailbox, use the following command:

Set-Mailbox "MailboxName" -Type Room

This sets up the mailbox as a room mailbox. The following changes take place (perhaps not an extensive list):
IsResource: True
UserAccountControl: Yes, Exchange Server 2007 resource mailboxes are disabled (displayed as "AccountDisabled" in the shell)
ExchangeUserAccountControl: AccountDisabled
LinkedMasterAccount: NT AUTHORITY\SELF
RecipientTypeDetails: RoomMailbox
AddressListMembership: In addition to the Default GAL and All Users address lists, the mailbox is made a member of All Rooms address list

AutomateProcessing in MailboxCalendarSettings is set to AutoUpdate. AutoUpdate sets up the mailbox to be processed by the Calendar Attendant. This processes meetings for users as they are received - even if the user is not logged on. Calendar items (meetings) are placed on the user's Calendar as tentative. As meeting updates are received, it marks the older instances as outdated.

The other choice here is AutoAccept, which sets it up for processing by the Resource Booking Attendant. It is similar to the Auto-Accept Agent for Exchange Server 2003 (a separate web download) - with a lot more configuration options, and without the XML configuration file required by AAA. To set up the mailbox for resource booking:

Set-MailboxCalendarSettings "MailboxName" -AutomateProcessing AutoAccept

There are plenty of configuration options one can use with Set-MailboxCalendarSettings command. Look at these in the documentation to figure out if you want to change any of the defaults.

To get a list of all resource mailboxes:

Get-Mailbox | where {$_.IsResource -eq "true"}