Exchange 2010 Setting An Auto-Response For A Distribution Group

We recently had a distribution group was that being used as a "support mailbox" and that particular group was going away. The owners of this group wanted an automated way to tell customers that the group is being deleted, but there's not a very graceful solution for auto-responses on distro groups (at least not an easy server-side setting).

Here's my workaround, using an Out Of Office Rule, which has been pretty successful:

The key to sending an auto-response from a distribution group, is that one user in the group needs to have an OOF (Out Of Office) rule set.

**Note** Don't enable OOF on multiple users, or the sender will get an auto-response from each one.
 
First, create a user mailbox; I created a generic mailbox, with a name that closely matches the current distro group, but with "Being-Moved" appended to the end of the Display Name and Alias...this is because the OOF being sent will be originating from this mailbox and recipients will see the mailbox name.
 
Add that new mailbox to the distro group.
 
Now, we're going to create an OOF Rule that fires off multiple responses even to the same sender (Exchange only sends responses once to each sender):
 
Open Outlook using the profile for the new mailbox you created.
 
Hit the Rules drop-down and select Manage Rules and Alerts.

Hit the New Rule button.

Select Apply rule on messages I receive, then click Next.

Select sent to people or public group.

In the bottom pane, click the link for people or public group and select the distribution group that you're working with, and click Next.

Select have server reply using a specific message.

In the bottom pane, click the a specific message link.

In the New Message that opens, input the desired Subject and Body, then hit Save and Close.

Click Next. 

Click Next since we don't need any exceptions.

Give the rule a name like "Distro Group OOF", check Turn on this rule then click Finish.

On the Rules and Alerts window, click OK.  
 
Now, open the Exchange Management Console:
 
Right-Click the distribution group and click Properties

Click the Advanced tab

Check send out of office to the originator

Send a few test messages to the distribution group from the same account both internal and external to verify that it fires off multiple auto-responses and you're done!