Hi! I seem to have problems trying to "prepare" my 32-bit active directory before installing exchange 2k7. Our company has 3 sites. Site A has 2 domain controllers. 1 domain controller that has the fsmo roles and is windows 2003 sp1. The other domain controller is windows 2000 sp4 and has exchange 2000 sp3. Site B has 2 domain controllers. 1 domain controller is windows 2003 sp1. The other domain controller is windows 2000 sp4 and has exchange 2000 sp3. Site C has 2 domain controllers. 2 domain controller with windows 2003 sp2. In this site I want to install exchange 2007 however I need to prepare Active Directory. To Prepare active directory I have to run all prepare commands in site A because that is where the fsmo dc is located. Setup /PrepareLegacyExchange Permissions ran successfully however setup prepareschema not. I get the following error : H>setup /Prepareschema 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: Domain Controller 'dc-mail.xxx.com' Operating System version is 5.0 (2195) Servi ce Pack 4. The minimum version required is 5.2 (3790) Service Pack 1. The Exchange Server setup operation did not complete. Visit http://support.micro soft.com and enter the Error ID to find more information. Exchange Server setup encountered an error. How can I install exchange 2007 in site C ? In the other sites we are not ready to install exchange 2007. We are planning sometime at the end of the year. I thought exchange 2000 (which is native) is allowed to co-exist when installing exchange 2007. And exchange 2000 requires OS windows 2000. Can you please help me solve my problem. All I want is to "prepare" the active directory, replicate all sites and start installing exchange 2007 at site C.

Are all of your sites one domain or 3 separate domains? Make sure that the FSMO masters are the W2k3 servers in all of your domains. Also make sure that you r W2k3 servers are global catalog servers. Scott

The E2K7 setup program often "discovers" a DC/GC that it should not discover.Does the AD site in which your E2K7 is being installed contain a W2K domain controller? I am recommending people upgrade ALL of their DCs to W2K3 SP1 before starting E2K7 deployments.

We have 1 domain with 3 sites. Our exchange 2000 sp3 is installed on a domain controller which is ofcourse windows 2000 sp4.

Any possibility of upgrading that server to E2K3 and then upgrading the OS to W2K3 SP1?

You should be able to run the command and specify the Windows 2003 Domain Controller and GC setup /Prepareschema /DomainController:<Windows2003SP1DC>