I just installed Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 onto a Microsoft Server 2012 and I'm unable to get to the management console.

When I tried this, https://<servernameFQDN>/ecp it fails with

HTTP Error 404.0 - Not Found

The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

Detailed Error Information:

Module  IIS Web Core

Notification  MapRequestHandler

Handler  StaticFile

Error Code  0x80070002

Requested URL  https://<servernameFQDN>:443/ecp

Physical Path  C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ecp  (this part is of special focus because no such directory exists)

Logon Method  Anonymous

Logon User  Anonymous

There are two "web sites" on that IIS server; Default and Exchange Backend. Ports used for Default are 80 and 443. Ports used for Exchange Backend are 81 and 444. I've made NO post-installation configuration changes. Everything is exactly as the Exchange Installation set it to. During installation, everything was left at the default settings except one item; the installation target path was changed from using drive "C:" to drive "E:", which is using the ReFS file system.

If I attempt to go to https://<servernameFQDN:444>/ecp I get to the login screen, as I should. But when I login, I'm taken to Outlook Web App.

Does this help?

http://www.curu.ca/2013/01/how-to-re-create-ecp-virtual-directory-in-exchange-2013/

Hi

Also check this KB

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942041

To resolve this problem, use one of the following methods:

• Make sure that the requested resource is at the location that the URL points to.
• Review the URL that you open in the Web browser.
• Make sure that no custom filters or modules restrict access to the file that you want to browse.

Cheers

That article seems to refer to the removing and recreation of a virtual directory. I didn't remove anything. The virtual directory, on the Default site, never got created to begin with it seems. Nor did any other virtual directory or virtual application that Exchange Server 2013 installation was supposed to create on the IIS Default web site. Since I'm just starting out with Exchange 2013 (and the last version of Exchange I managed was 2003), I have no idea what Exchange might have failed to install on the Default web site.

I tried recreating the virtual application, manually, on the Default web site but when I tried to get to it, I got an Access Denied. So obviously I didn't have something right. I also don't understand why when I went to https://<servernameFQDN>:444/ecp, it took me to OWA instead of ECP, even though the ecp virtual directory goes to the actual ecp directory....unless any attempt to connect on 444 sends you to OWA. Microsoft just seems to have something really screwed up in the Exchange Server 2013 install and I really need help from you all to get this problem fixed.

Thanks for trying but that link was not helpful at all. It didn't provide any kind of realistic answers or any kind of procedures to follow to fix the problem.

It was like, you probably have either problem A or problem B or problem C. To resolve your issue, fix problem A or fix problem B or fix problem C.

Nooooo. Ya think! Ok, now you tell me HOW to fix problem A or HOW to fix problem B or HOW to fix problem C.

It really was not a helpful article. But I honestly thank you for trying.

Also, when I attempt to run

New-EcpVirtualDirectory -Identity "Server01\ecp (Default Web Site)" 

it comes back with an error:

New-EcpVirtualDirectory : The term "New-EcpVirtualDirectory" is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

There was some more error message after that but the above was the jist of it. Powershell had no idea what that cmdlet was, so I couldn't even run it to even try and see if the instructions on that link would fix my problem.

On Mon, 20 May 2013 20:55:53 +0000, MrDisabledVet wrote:   >Also, when I attempt to run > >New-EcpVirtualDirectory -Identity "Server01\ecp (Default Web Site)" > >it comes back with an error: > >New-EcpVirtualDirectory : The term "New-EcpVirtualDirectory" is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. > >There was some more error message after that but the above was the jist of it. Powershell had no idea what that cmdlet was, so I couldn't even run it to even try and see if the instructions on that link would fix my problem.   Are you using the Exchange Management Shell to run the cmdlet? I think you're just using the default Powershell setup and you don't have the necessary modules imported.   --- Rich Matheisen MCSE+I, Exchange MVP  

You're right. I realized that might be the case while I was at home last night, so I was going to try again this morning, using the Exchange Management Shell. But when I did, it still failed. It seems that Microsoft's documentation is wrong. -Identity is not a valid parameter for New-EcpVirtualDirectory. It is valid for Get-EcpVirtualDirectory and it is valid for Remove-EcpVirtualDirectory but it is not valid for New-EcpVirtualDirectory. Try it for yourself and you'll see. Powershell comes back with an error saying:

A parameter cannot be found that matches the parameter name 'Identity'.

A search of the Internet confirmed this, indicating that the only parameter that is valid for New-EcpVirtualDirectory is -AppPoolID <app pool name>

and I have no idea what the app pool name is supposed to be.

Well, things have gotten worse. I finally gave up on trying to fix the current installation, so I tried to uninstall Exchange Server 2013. It wouldn't uninstall, complaining that there were some sort of resources in use (it gave examples such as MailPlan's, Discover mailboxes, Monitoring mailboxes, arbitration mailboxes, etc). So I finally gave up and blew away the Windows 2012 Server and rebuilt it. Big mistake....because all the changes to AD, made by Exchange, were still there. I tried to manually remove those but editing AD manually, if you don't know what to change (or delete), can be dangerous. I used ADSI Edit to do a default connection to AD and I found two Exchange Objects in the root of the tree. I removed them. Then I tried to re-install Exchange Server 2013 but I got an error message about Exchange being in an inconsistent state. So, I started up ADSI Edit again but this time I connected to Configuration. In there I found a whole slew of Exchange stuff. I worked my way in to CN=Servers,CN<servername> and I removed the server. But that still didn't solve the problem, I just got a different error. It urns out that there is an "otherWellKnownObjects" attribute for the Microsoft Exchange object, that is one level up from CN=Servers, and that attribute needed to be removed because it was pointing to objects I had deleted. Once I did that, Setup finally started normally without trying to force me to run in a Recover Mode. However, when it began to install the mailbox role, it failed again (it was still picking up info in AD about the old mailbox database). So, back I go into ADSI Edit and connect to Configuration. I found a CN=Databases and beneath that I found an object for the old database that no longer exists....and beneath that I found an object for my server. So I deleted the object for my server and the one above that, for the old database. Then I reran setup. It saw that the previous install was incomplete and tried to finish it. It seems to finish ok. It didn't give me any error messages. When it was done, it just quit.

But I now still have the original problem; I have no access to the ecp. And when I tried to follow those instructions on that link, I couldn't even connect to the Exchange Server via its Powershell interface. I got an error to the effect that the Administrator account for the Domain had not been assigned any management roles for Exchange Server 2013 and so could not be connected to Exchange Server 2013.

At this point, I have no idea what to try next. I can't even try to fix the ecp until I can get connected to Exchange and I have no idea how to manually give the Domain Administrator account a management role for Exchange Server (without access to a working management interface for Exchange Server). And I can't uninstall Exchange Server 2013 because I get the same error about mailboxes existing (even though this is a default install that has never been used by anyone).

See my post below, plus this new info.

I installed the cumulative update 1 for Exchange Server 2013, hoping it might fix some of the problems....but no luck. I'm completely stuck. No way to go forwards and no way to go back.

I still have no access to that stupid web-based ecp program so that I can manage Exchange 2013. It simply doesn't exist on default web site. And I can't follow the steps listed on that web page, to try to recreate the ecp, because I can't even get connected to Exchange using the Exchange Powershell-based management shell. Every time I open that shell, I get the following errors when it tries to connect to Exchange:

         Welcome to the Exchange Management Shell!

Full list of cmdlets: Get-Command
Only Exchange cmdlets: Get-ExCommand
Cmdlets that match a specific string: Help *<string>*
Get general help: Help
Get help for a cmdlet: Help <cmdlet name> or <cmdlet name> -?
Show quick reference guide: QuickRef
Exchange team blog: Get-ExBlog
Show full output for a command: <command> | Format-List

Tip of the day #19:

If you want to test all IP Block List providers, you just have to pipe the Get-IpBlockListProvider cmdlet to the Test-Ip
BlockListProvider cmdlet:

 Get-IpBlockListProvider | Test-IpBlockListProvider -IpAddress 192.168.0.1

VERBOSE: Connecting to SYSTEM7.testkate.edu.
New-PSSession : [system7.testkate.edu] Processing data from remote server system7.testkate.edu failed with the
following error message: The user "testkate.edu/Users/Administrator" isn't assigned to any management roles. For more
information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin
   gTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : IncorrectProtocolVersion,PSSessionOpenFailed
VERBOSE: Connecting to SYSTEM7.testkate.edu.
New-PSSession : [system7.testkate.edu] Processing data from remote server system7.testkate.edu failed with the
following error message: The user "testkate.edu/Users/Administrator" isn't assigned to any management roles. For more
information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin
   gTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : IncorrectProtocolVersion,PSSessionOpenFailed
VERBOSE: Connecting to SYSTEM7.testkate.edu.
New-PSSession : [system7.testkate.edu] Processing data from remote server system7.testkate.edu failed with the
following error message: The user "testkate.edu/Users/Administrator" isn't assigned to any management roles. For more
information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-PSSession -ConnectionURI "$connectionUri" -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OpenError: (System.Manageme....RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin
   gTransportException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : IncorrectProtocolVersion,PSSessionOpenFailed
Failed to connect to an Exchange server in the current site.
Enter the server FQDN where you want to connect.:

I've checked to Domain Administrator account and it is in the Exchange Server Organization Management security group (in fact, I've added it to all the other management groups that are intended for users and at the same time I added the Domain Admins group to those same groups), so I know that it has been assigned the proper management roles. I think the problem is more related to the part of those error messages where it says + FullyQualifiedErrorID : IncorrectProtocolVersion,PSSessionOpenFailed. But I have no idea what causes that or how to fix it.

And until I can get Powershell to connect to the Exchange Server, I can't even try to do a New-EcpVirtualDirectory. Nor can I uninstall Exchange because the database has mailboxes in it (system-related mailboxes that Setup created when installing Exchange) and the Uninstall won't work until those mailboxes are deleted and I can't delete the mailboxes (even if I knew how) because I can't connect to Exchange using Powershell.

Microsoft really screwed up Setup for Exchange Server 2013. The Uninstall option for Exchange Server setup needs to have a /Force parameter, so that when I tell Setup to uninstall Exchange, by using the /Force parameter, it will tell setup, "Hey, I don't care if there are mailboxes present! Ignore that! Delete them! Delete the mailbox database and uninstall Exchange Server!" If I've told you to uninstall, then obviously I don't care if there are existing mailboxes! Uninstall!

There should also be a Reinstall mode that, if specified, tells Exchange SEtup to wipe out the existing Exchange installation and install a brand new fresh one, from scratch. And there should be a companion mode to Setup /PrepareAD that might be called Setup /UnPrepareAD and that option would go through AD and clean out (remove) all traces of Exchange-related items from AD (including in the schema), so if someone ends up having to try to manually remove Exchange Server 2013, by say rebuilding the Windows 2012 Server (that they attempted to install Exchange on), They could run setup /UnPrepareAD and it would remove all traces of Exchange from AD, so that they could have a "pristine" environment to try installing Exchange Server 2013 into again. Otherwise, they'd have to blow away their entire Windows infrastructure and nobody wants to do that.

So, right now, I'm stuck. Until I can get connected to the Exchange 2013 Server with Exchange's Powershell-based Management Shell, I can't do anything. I can't go forward and I can't go backward. I'm just stuck. I could blow the whole Windows 2012 Server away and then clean a few things out of AD, but its unlikely that will allow me to get connected to Exchange Server with Powershell and its unlikely that it will create the ECP this time around. I would need to know everything Exchange-rlated that needs to be removed from AD, so that I can get the correct things removed safely.

Hi MrDisabledVet,

This is a late response, but can you recall if you had the essentials role installed on the server?
If so this was probably the cause of you unable to connect to the ecp..

Kind regards,

Robin Antheunis