This is part of a 2003 to 2007 migration, so I had originally posted the apparent problem there and have been getting some assistance (thanks Netanel!). (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrmigration/thread/c1991048-d91f-4bd7-a115-653029bded0e) However, it seems to be bigger than just a migration issue and I need to toss it out a bit further. When I did the original install, I ended up without the Microsoft Transport Service installed. Don't ask me how, I couldn't tell you. I was attacking the symptoms and added the connectors, but that didn't solve the problem. I finally got around to trying to change Exchange in Maintenance mode and was unable until I deleted a couple of HubTransportRole registry keys (watermark and action). Now, the setup fails with "an object already exists" error - apparently on the receive connectors. Should I just delete the connectors and go forward? Is that 'safe'? Think it's time to punt and remove Exchange and start over (and how ugly would that be - I'm trying to migrate from 2003 to 2007)? Or what? Thanks! Bill

I ended up removing the default <servername> receive connector and the setup/maintenance mode worked. Bill

Hi Bill, Thank you for sharing the solution.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Thanks Gen Lin-MSFT