Exchange setup "Server object ... already exists" error message (298068)

CAUSE

This problem can occur because of various causes. The cause of this problem determines which method you should use to resolve this problem.

If the following conditions exist, use the resolution in the "There is no data to restore" section of this article:

The Exchange server was never fully installed previously.

-or-
You stopped the Setup program (or clicked the Cancel button) during the Messaging and Collaboration services subcomponent section in any previous installation attempts.

-or-
An Exchange server was successfully installed in the past, but that server was a temporary or "rogue" server that was later removed from the network or reformatted.

If the following conditions exist, use the resolution in the "You can restore from a backup" section of this article:

The Exchange server was fully installed in the past but became unavailable because of a hardware failure or another event that prompted you to rebuild the server with the same server name.

-and-
You have backups of the Exchange server's storage groups that were made before the disaster.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, you need to use different methods depending on the cause of the problem.

There is no data to restore

In this scenario, an orphaned server object exists in the configuration naming context in Active Directory as a result of previous unsuccessful, cancelled, or temporary installations. That orphaned server object prevents the new installation attempt.

If your new installation is supposed to be the first Exchange server in the organization, remove the Exchange organization object, which automatically removes the orphaned server. For additional information on removing the Exchange organization object, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

273478 How to completely remove Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 from Active Directory

If you have not installed the ADC service, use the information in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

279749 ForestPrep does not work with error message: An Invalid ADSI Pathname Was Passed 80005000

Note that either procedure in the above articles brings your Active Directory to a pre-forestprep state. Use the procedures in the preceding articles with caution. If you use the procedures in the preceding articles when there is more than one operational Exchange server, removing the organization object to a pre-forestprep state will cause operational Exchange servers to no longer function.

If there are other operational Exchange servers in the organization, remove only the single, orphaned server object with the same name as the computer that you want to install Exchange on. Do not remove the Exchange organization object if there are other operational Exchange servers in the organization. There are several ways to remove this single server. To remove this single server:

Start the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in.
On the View menu, click Show Services Node to display the extra node on the left pane.

Note In Windows Server 2003, the Show Services Node command may not appear on the View menu if the Sites folder is selected. You must first click the Active Directory Sites and Services [servername.domain.local] object before you follow the instructions at the beginning of this step.
Expand the Services node, expand the Microsoft Exchange node, and then expand the organization_name node.
Expand Administrative Groups, expand the administrative group in which the server exists, and then expand the Servers container.
Delete the server object with the same name as the computer that you want to install Exchange on.

Note If this server object was populated in Active Directory because a recent in-place upgrade from Exchange Server 5.5 was unsuccessful, you may need to restore your Exchange Server 5.5 computer and database files before you continue with another in-place upgrade. After your Exchange Server 5.5 computer and data are operational, you must prevent another unsuccessful in-place upgrade. For information about how to do so, visit the following Microsoft Web site to view the "In-Place Upgrade from Microsoft Exchange 5.5 to Microsoft Exchange 2000" white paper:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/2000/library/iue55e2k.mspx

After you complete the actions that are described in this section, you can run Exchange 2000 Setup without using the /disasterrecovery switch.

You can restore from a backup

In this scenario, you must run Setup with the /disasterrecovery switch to force Setup to read the server name's previous operational state, which is stored in Active Directory. Setup copies the information from the Active Directory-stored information, and then registers the same components that existed on this server before the Setup problem. After Setup with the /disasterrecovery switch finishes installing the Exchange 2000 binary files, the stores do not automatically mount because the binary files expect your databases to be restored. After you restore the public store or the mailbox stores, you can mount them.

Note The /disasterrecovery switch is not supported if you are attempting to recover a cluster's Exchange virtual server. For additional information running a disaster recovery Setup, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: