This article contains information on common Backup & Recovery symptoms, their likely causes, and the steps to resolve issues such as empty mailbox lists, unhealthy integrations, unprotected or degraded mailboxes, permission gaps, and slow initial backups.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Resolution |
| Mailboxes list is empty | Directory Sync isn’t configured with Azure Active Directory or hasn’t synced recently. | Configure Directory Sync with Azure Active Directory and re-check; Backup & Recovery sources its inventory exclusively from Directory Sync. |
| Integration shows as unhealthy | Admin consent expired, was revoked, or was never fully granted. | Re-authenticate with a Global Administrator account and re-grant admin consent; also confirm the tenant is genuinely Exchange Online, not on-premises. |
| A specific mailbox is stuck in “Unprotected” | No active policy currently targets that mailbox through either direct or indirect group membership. | Confirm that an active policy's target selection actually includes a group that directly or indirectly includes the mailbox. |
| A mailbox is in “Degraded” state | Persistent backup errors, more than 3 retries, on initial or incremental backup. | Monitor briefly for self-recovery; if it persists, raise a Support ticket rather than continuing to wait. |
| A mailbox is in “Unlicensed” state | The mailbox’s Exchange license has been removed (commonly because the user left the organization). | Restore the license if backup should continue, or accept that existing backup data is retained with no new backups taken. |
| Cannot create an export | The user attempting it lacks the Manage permission. | Confirm the user’s role includes Manage under the Backup & Recovery permission set. |
| Cannot download a completed export | The user has Manage but not the separate Recover permission. | Confirm the user’s role includes Recover specifically; downloading is gated independently from creating exports. |
| Initial backup is taking a very long time | Expected behavior for large mailboxes or a large number of mailboxes activated simultaneously. | No action required; initial backup can take hours to days depending on volume; incremental backup of new mail runs in parallel regardless. |
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