Uninstallation/Removal of Exchange 2010
Greetings. After two failed attempts at installing Exchange 2010 (this was the first attempt at installing Exchange and no other instances of Exchange exist) due to some obscure PowerShell errors, I have re-built the server on which the original Exchange installation attempt resided. It should be noted that I re-build the server due to the fact that Uninstalling Exchange via add/remove programs was also failing. No worries, the rebuild was seamless..... I would like to attempt another install of Exchange in to our Organization, however I'm concerned about the lingering attributes that Exchange has left in our AD 2008 domain. If I attempt another install on the rebuilt server, I'm certain that the previous errors will re-appear. So I'd like to remove Exchange from the entire AD before making another attempt. Are there any supported/safe ways to remove the Exchange attributes from AD? I've seen several floating around, but I thought I'd ask here before proceeding. Also, taking in to consideration that the server was rebuilt and that the removal of Exchange attributes from the AD domain are successful, can I also assume that the next attempt at installing Exchange will be "fresh"? Thanks in advance!
November 30th, 2010 10:37am

Hi, Is the a lab installation? There is no good way (if any) to remove any of the exchange attributes from the Schema. Expanding the Schema is a one way action so you can't remove it all. There might be a way to remove the Exchange organization from ADSIEDIT, but again you are messing with settings that can mess up your AD as well. I would try and install Exchange 2010 again, if it succeed then all is well, if not then troubleshoot the errors you have. I did find this by a small google search http://msexchangehelp.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/manually-uninstall-last-exchange-2010-server-from-organization/ If its a lab start over and try again. /MartinExchange is a passion not just a collaboration software.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 30th, 2010 2:38pm

If you didn't remove Exchange correctly, then you are going to have traces in the domain. Microsoft provide no manual removal methods that they support. The AD schema updates are a one way thing, and cannot be undone, however that will not cause a problem with the operation of Exchange in the future. However as you didn't remove Exchange correctly, that needs to be resolved. The best way is to run setup.com from the command line with the recoverserver switch. The new server would need to have the identical name as the original machine. Once the installation is complete, remove it again with add/remove programs and that should remove Exchange correctly. The server can then be removed from the domain, wiped and rebuilt for production use. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources
November 30th, 2010 2:57pm

Simon is right, that's the only supported way to do it even if the other one works it cannot be recommended since you will be "out of support" Jonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
December 1st, 2010 1:55am

Hi, As Simon said, You cannot remove the exchange attributes. There is no method to undo AD Schema update. Since you does not have any exchange servers hosting in your organization, you can remove the exchange organization container from AD and then start a new fresh installation of exchange 2010: 1. On DC, open Adsiedit.msc. Connect to "Configuration". 2. Expand to CN=services, right click CN=Microsoft Exchange and choose delete. If the errors still happens, please post it here for further search. 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
December 1st, 2010 3:54am

Great suggestions! I suspected that a total removal of Exchange was not possible, so its good to get that second opinion. I've taken Gen's advice in reference to the ADSIedit removals and will attempt to re-install again on the same server. Will post the results as they come in.....
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
December 1st, 2010 10:18am

All went extremely well until it came time for the Mailbox Role Installation where I got the following error: 12/01/2010 20:00:47.0391] [1] [ERROR] The following error was generated when "$error.Clear(); if ($RoleIsDatacenter -ne $true) { if (test-ExchangeServersWriteAccess -DomainController $RoleDomainController -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) { # upgrade the discovery mailboxes to R5 version, this will fix the RecipientDisplayType property of the discovery mailbox which was wrong in R4. get-mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails DiscoveryMailbox -DomainController $RoleDomainController | where {$_.IsValid -eq $false} | set-mailbox -DomainController $RoleDomainController $name = [Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.EnableMailbox]::DiscoveryMailboxUniqueName; $dispname = [Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.EnableMailbox]::DiscoveryMailboxDisplayName; $mbxs = @( get-mailbox -Filter {name -eq $name} -IgnoreDefaultScope -resultSize 1 ); if ( $mbxs.length -eq 0) { $dbs = @(get-MailboxDatabase -Server:$RoleFqdnOrName -DomainController $RoleDomainController); if($dbs.Length -ne 0) { $mbxUser = @(get-user -Filter {name -eq $name} -IgnoreDefaultScope -ResultSize 1); if ($mbxUser.Length -ne 0) { enable-mailbox -Discovery -identity $mbxUser[0] -DisplayName $dispname -database $dbs[0].Identity; } } } } else { write-exchangesetuplog -info "Skipping creating Discovery Search Mailbox because of insufficient permission." } } " was run: "Database is mandatory on UserMailbox. Property Name: Database". The three things that stand out are the "upgrade the discovery mailboxes to R5 version", the "Skipping .......because of insufficient permission", and the "Database is Mandatory on UserMailbox" messages. I saw this: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchange2010/thread/10ad4a1e-3108-4016-85cc-8e679e2e8fc9 I did run setup /p and setup /ps. I'm also running the setup with Admin privileges. The Attributes under HomeMDB are null, but not sure if that's the problem? All my account attributes are null in that area. Any assistance would be appreciated!
December 1st, 2010 3:40pm

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics