Hello, I have a question,

Is it possible to install Microsoft 2010 Exchange on a Windows 2008R2 Domain that has its Domain and Forest Functional Levels set to 2008R2 Level? Our domains are at the R2 level, and when launching the DVD installer it says you must run setup /forestprep before running the installer but I have not suceeded in preparing the forest for Exchange 2010.

Is it possible to force the installer to allow installing on the 2008R2 system? We have no other options at the moment

Did you try Exchange 2010 SP3 directly or installing it from RTM DVD?

You should be able to install Exchange 2010 SP3 without any problem but you need to upgrade to latest UR as Windows 2008 Domain and Forest functional level are supported on or later than SP3 UR5....

Exchange Server Supportability Matrix - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff728623%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Are you getting any error btw, when you try to install E201

Sorry what do you mean by UR? I am running the latest from the download page EXE called "Exchange2010-SP3-x64.exe", Size=562,389KB). The Domain and Forest Functional Levels for Active Directory are: Windows 2008 R2.

Yes the I ran the SP3 setup and it detected the partially completed SP1 install then errored with the same error message (at Step 4: Install microsoft Exchange GUI):

Error: The Active Directory must be modified with 'Setup /PrepareAD' before domains can be prepared for Exchange 2010.

Error: A setup failure previously occured while installing the HubTransportRole.

So then I opened up a cmd as Administrator and ran:

Setup.com /PrepareAD

Welecomt to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unattended Setup

Preparing Exchange Setup

   Copying Setup Files    ............... COMPLETEED

No server roles will be installed

Performing Microsoft exchange server prerequisite check

    Organization Checks  ............... FAILED

• Edited by martKyu 8 hours 34 minutes ago

Any particular error in the Exchange Setup log?

Hi martKyu,

Thank you for your question.

We should install the prerequisite on Window server 2008R2, then run setup.exe.

We could refer to the following link to install all prerequisites in the item which is Install the Windows Server 2008R2 Operating system prerequisites :

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.141)

If there are any questions regarding this issue, please be free to let me know.

Best Regard,

Jim