I am trying to setup a test Exchange 2010 server. I have installed a new 2008R2 DC and another 2008R2 server as a member of the domain. When I launch the Exchange 2010 install it goes through the prerequisites check and I get some errors. How do I go about resolving these errors? Does my Exchange 2010 server need to be a DC? Organization PrerequisitesFailed Error:The Active Directory Schema is not up-to-date and Ldifde.exe is not installed on this computer. You must install Ldifde.exe by running 'ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS' or restart setup on a domain controller. Error:The Active Directory needs to be prepared for Exchange Server and Ldifde.exe is not installed on this computer. You must install Ldifde.exe by running 'ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS' or restart setup on a domain controller. Warning:Setup is going to prepare the organization for Exchange 2010 by using 'Setup /PrepareAD'. No Exchange 2007 server roles have been detected in this topology. After this operation, you will not be able to install any Exchange 2007 server roles.

No, Exchange does not need to be a DC and it's recommended to make sure it isn't on a DC. As for your issue, it sounds like you're missing the operating system prerequisites for the installation of Exchange 2010. About halfway down the contents in the link below you'll see the operating system prerequisites for 2008 R2. Add those to the server and try again. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspxNeil Hobson, Exchange MVP

Yes, I saw these errors also. I was trying to install Exchange Servers on three machines in a single domain (one of the machines was the DC itself). As per my observation, once I installed an Exchange Server in the domain [it was a DC, co-incidentally] and restarted the machine, the Exchange setups on other machines in the domain continued without these errors.

Hi, Click Start, Run, and in the Open field run 'ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS