Hello Everyone and thanks fo ryour help in advance. I am rebuilding an Exchange 2003 Enterprise on a Windows 2003 OS. I have (I believe) successfully installed the 2003 OS. I have joined the computer to the domain (there is one DC). I am attempting to run the Domain Forest Prep and am encountering the error: The Component "Microsoft Exchange Forest Preparation" cannot be assigned the action "Forest Prep" because - you cannot install this product on a computer running Windows Professional The OS install is a fresh one on a fresh disk, so I have no clue as to what the Windows Professional reference is. I have not yet run Windows Updates and perhaps this might fix the problem, but wanted to see if anyone else had encoutnered this issue before procedding. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Why are you running ForestPrep? Is this a new Exchange org? If so, ensure you meet all the requirements: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123643(EXCHG.65).aspx

Its a rebuild to replace an existing (crashed) machine. I assumed I needed to run it.

You shouldn't need to. The AD is already prepped, if you have had Exch 2003 in the environment before. You should look at this link for steps to recover an exchange server using the /disasterrecovery switch http://www.petri.co.il/exchange_disasterecovery_switch.htm Tim Harrington - Catapult Systems - http://HowDoUC.blogspot.com

Thanks. Looks very helpful. A couple of questions. If I ahve already run the Domain Prep, do I need to start over? The other issue is that the backup is not the best snapshot before the crash, however, I have access to all of the files on the MDBDATA folder which is where I think all of the logs and databases are stored. I know there is a way to remount these, but not exactly sure how. Thanks again for the assistance.

No, you do not need to start over. ( if you mean by starting over that you need to re-run the forest and exchange prep steps) You can use this to restore an offline backup if that is all you have: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296788 http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Restoring-Exchange-Server2003-Alternate-Hardware.html

Thanks for the response. I am a little ocnfused as to the concept of mounting and dismounting. This is what I have. The disk on the old server is basically intact and simply not booting correctly, however, I have copied allof of the files from the old disk including the directories and files from the Exchsrvr folder. If I understand correctly, all needed files reside in the MDBDATA folder, i.e. logs, priv.edb, pub.edb. Do I simply copy these files into the new MDBDATA folder? Are there other files or folders I need to copy? Do I stop any services during the copy and then which services and what order do I start? The articles appear to run integrity verification, and then simply copy them to the folders. Not really sure what they mean by mounting and dismounting. I feel pretty certain the files are in good shape. The booting issue is deriving from a security patch last Tuesday which hopefully and likely would not affect the databases and logs. Thanks again for the help.