Hi, when i fire the following command in server where I am going to install exchange 2007, I am getting afailure message with the following details : Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790] (C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp. E:\>setup /prepareAd /ON:3CG Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup Preparing Exchange Setup No server roles will be installed Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check Organization Checks ......................... FAILED Setup encountered a problem while validating the state of Active Directory: Could not find any Domain Controller in domain kaeuaeserver.com. The Exchange Server Setup operation did not complete. For more information, visit http://support.microsoft.com and enter the Error ID. Exchange Server setup encountered an error. _____________________________________________________________________________ Please help me how to resolve this issue Jinesh Kumar

Hi Jinesh,~ Did you verify prerequisites of Exchange 2007? Like you need at least one DC, GC and Schema Master roles on Windows 2003 SP1.Exchange 2007 System Requirementshttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx~ Additionally, run Exchange Best Practice Analyzer into Exchange 2007 readiness check to verify that your environment is ready for it or not...~ Also paste the error from the setup log to get further detail.Exchange 2007 setup logs and how to use them to troubleshoot setuphttp://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/05/07/438433.aspx~ Make sure that DNS settings are configured properly.Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com

Hi Amit Let me explain you what has happened. I have prepared AD and formatted our new server for exchange and joined domain and done all updates and I ran this command E:\>setup /prepareAd /ON:3CG and it worked fine and I installed exchange 2007 but that time I am not noticed that exchange is installed in C drive instead of E drive. So,I tried to remove exchange completely but I could not succeed in this task. SoI formatted the same server again and given a different computer name and trying to run prepareAD command and it is getting fail with the above error mentioned. I will check the documents again and will run best practice analyzer and will come back to you soon Jinesh Kumar

Hi Jinesh,Actually that is not the correct way and you needed to uninstall previous instllation of Exchange server properly because it keeps all the Exchange configuration entries in AD if you just format the machine without unistall. Correct way to remove server is, uninstall it from Add/Remove program properly.~ Now the option is to recover the old server first (with Setup /m:RecoverServer switch) and uninstall properly then youcan install back on different drive.How to Recover a Lost Exchange Serverhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123496.aspxAmit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com

HiAmit, Please find below results. How this will work if server got reformatted. E:\>Setup /m:recoverserver Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup Preparing Exchange Setup The following server roles will be recovered Cannot specify installation mode since no Exchange server is installed on thismachine.Try to install Exchange first. Server is not found in Active Directory. Server must be present in Active Directory to recover. Exchange Server setup encountered an error.Jinesh Kumar

Hi Also, let me knowcan I install AD in same server where we areplanning to install exchange 2007 and whatwill be the drawbacks if I install AD and exchange in same server Please advise Jinesh Kumar

Are you keeping same server name which was there earlier?Was it the first server which you couldn't uninstall properly and formatted?Can you describe your environment topology in bit detail?Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com

Yep technically you can install but it is strongly not recommended to install Exchange on DC/GC for security, performance reasons and it also makes recovery more complex when it goes down.Here are the words at TechNet, I am directly pasting it from:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspxInstalling Exchange 2007 on Directory ServersFor security and performance reasons, we recommend that you install Exchange 2007 only on member servers, and not on Active Directory directory servers. Although installing Exchange 2007 on a directory server is supported, it is strongly discouraged. However, you cannot run DCPromo on a computer running Exchange 2007. After Exchange 2007 is installed, changing its role from a member server to a directory server, or vice versa, is not supported.If you install Exchange 2007 on a global catalog server, and if you restart the server, you may need to start the required Exchange services manually. For more information, see Knowledge Base article 940845...Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com

Hi No, when I formatted second time, I gave another computer name for server as the old one still exist in network and I cannot assign How can I workaround with this situation Please advise Jinesh Kumar

- You need to reset the computer account- Need to give same name to this server- Recover Exchange server.- Uninstall Exchange properly- Re-install Exchange with new drive location.Recovering an Exchange 2007 Server using the RecoverServer switchhttp://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Recovering-Exchange-2007-Server-RecoverServer-switch.htmlIt is always a problem and Microsoft recommend to uninstall Exchange 2007 properly to move the data to another server and remove the server entries from AD safely and specially that is the first Exchange server in AD where you have PF, Free/Busy, OAB etc (if outlook 2003 client exisits in your network).Amit Tank | MVP - Exchange | MCITP:EMA MCSA:M | http://ExchangeShare.WordPress.com

Hi If I reinstall AD, can I install exchange 2007 successfully or not. Also let me know how can I export only AD users and and its settings, so that I can do export and then import those users to new AD Jinesh Kumar

No, we cannot export AD settings and import again Is this a testing environment? If yes, we can create another forest and use Active Directory Migration Tool to move users, groups, and computers from old AD forest and depromote it. But if there are group policies, we can only manually recreate them Amits suggestion is recommended solution for this situation. Since you have formatted server, old servers computer account must still remain in the AD. So, please try to remove old servers computer account from ADUC, and then see if the name can be assigned As the article provided by Amit shows, Almost all the settings for a computer running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 are stored in the Active Directory directory service. The /m:RecoverServer switch rebuilds an Exchange server with the same name and settings, using the information in Active Directory. So it will work if server got reformatted (lost) So please ensure the settings of old exchange server still exist on the AD a. Launch Adsieditor on the DC < Start->Run-> ADSIEditor.msc> b. Configuration Container->CN=Configuration, DC= Domain_Name ,DC=com->CN=Services ->CN=Microsoft Exchange->CN= Your_Organization_Name->CN=Administrative Groups ->CN= Your_Administrative_Group_Name->CN=Servers c. Please expand CN=Servers, see if theres an object that shows the name of old exchange server Reference: Understanding Setup /M:RecoverServer

Hi, As explained earlier, I got back my old exchange server 2007 but not fully working as last time as I removed all server roles except mailbox roles last time then I formatted my system. Now, I am trying to remove mailbox role and I am getting an error message as per the following : Setup previously failed while performing the action "Disaster Recovery". You cannot resume setup by performing the action "Uninstall" Please advise how to uninstall exchange completely from this server Jinesh Kumar

also, I had run the same switch again setup /m:recoverserver and I got the message below : E:\>setup /m:recoverserver Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unattended Setup Preparing Exchange Setup The following server roles will be recovered Mailbox Role Management Tools Performing Microsoft Exchange Server Prerequisite Check Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server Copying Exchange files ......................... COMPLETED Mailbox Role ......................... FAILED Service 'MSExchangeSA' failed to reach status 'Running' on this server. The Exchange Server Setup operation did not complete. For more information, visit http://support.microsoft.com and enter the Error ID. Exchange Server setup encountered an error. Jinesh Kumar

Please use Xiu Zhangs post in this thread to fix the issue and reinstall the exchange

hi,did you tried an articles below?http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998313.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124115.aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123893.aspxand you can install exchange server on dc but it is not recommended. and if you want to remove exchange server from your organization before you must uninstall it and then you must use adsiedit for cleaning exchange server informations. and you must delete the computer account for exchange server from the active directory if you will install with the same name.when you clear exchange information on your server and then you can do cleaninstall of exchange server 2007 on thesame server.thanks,System Support Specialist