We developed an Exchange Server 2013 in an Exchange 2007 environment to set the Exchange 2013 as CAS role and use this for hybrid migration to Office 365 in the future.

We noticed that the Exchange Server didnt install as it should, there was some .dll missed.

We tried to uninstall the server and after try some guides we deleted the Exchange Server 2013 with ADSIEDIT:

CN=configuration
DC=domain name,DC=com
CN=Services
CN=Microsoft Exchange
CN=Organization
CN=Administrative Groups
CN=(Groupname) 
CN=Servers

Deleted only the Exchange Server 2013 and execute the following command using command promt (run cmd as administrator): Setup.exe /mode:Uninstall /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

After few hours We realized that the mail services was down and all servers on "CN=Servers" was deleted.

Any ideas how this happened? 

------

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

It is always not recommended to play around with ADSI edit until we get a proper guidance on them.

If you have deleted the whole servers container then it will delete all the Exchange server in your organization.

You need to perform a DR if you have a healthy system state backup to restore the config of exchange 

You can follow

http://msexchangeteam.in/exchange-server-2013-disaster-recovery/

Good Luck

Hi Sathish,

Thanks for your reply,

We Deleted only the Exchange Server 2013 listed on "CN=Servers" and not the whole container, My question is if I deleted only that server from the listed servers and left all the rest, it is possible that forcing the uninstall for the Exchange Server 2013 can be the other servers get deleted too?

We already restored the System State, just wanna be sure what's the reason to get all the servers deleted.

------

Bryan

Deleting a server in ADSI Edit doesn't usually affect the others - and sometimes it's the only way to get rid of them. The reason Sathish mentions the possible deletion of the container is that that is the most likely explanation. One example of how that might happen is if the input focus moved from the right-hand window to the left, and you didn't notice. Of course, if the empty container is still there  then the container probably didn't get deleted, and there must be some other explanation.

If you deleted one server from ADSI Edit, and then ran the uninstall (I think that's what you said you did), then I expect it thought you wanted to uninstall the remaining one.  But that would mean all the program files would get removed, too.  Removing a server in ADSI Edit would not remove any program files.

Hi,

Generally delete the server in ADSIEdit is not a recommended way. The method using ADSIEdit to remove an Exchange server should only be used carefully.

The Exchange Installations creates several "System Mailboxes" (Arbitration,Monitoring and Discover) that you need to delete before you can uninstall your last Exchange 2013 Server.

In the end, here is a similar thread for your reference : https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/4726db53-b5ac-488a-a801-a4774ffcdc34/cannot-uninstall-exchange-2013

Best Regards,

David