How to remove Exchange Server 2003 from your computer (833396)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition


Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

For a Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server version of this article, see 260378.



Warning Before you remove a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 server from a production environment that has multiple servers in the site, make sure that you know all the roles that are held by the server. Take steps to move those roles to another server before you follow the steps in this article to remove the Exchange Server. For example, the server may hold special roles such as site folder server or routing group master, or the server could be listed as a bridgehead server on a connector such as an SMTP connector or a routing group connector.

If you do not transfer these roles to another server before you remove the Exchange server, you may experience adverse effects including the following:
  • Mail flow may stop if the server is a messaging bridgehead server.
  • Free/busy problems may occur if the server is the site folder server.
  • Mail flow may be adversely affected if the server is the routing group master, because the link state data for the remaining servers in the site is not updated for each other and the link state data for the remaining servers in the site is not updated to other sites.
  • Other adverse effects may occur depending on the role the server holds.
If this Exchange server is the only server in the site, role transfers are not an issue.

For more information about some of the roles held by an Exchange server and how to move them, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

822931 How to remove the first Exchange Server 2003 computer from the administrative group

SUMMARY

This how-to article describes the steps to automatically or manually remove Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 from your computer.

Before you can remove Exchange 2003, you must disconnect all mailbox-enabled users from the mailboxes on the Exchange server. After all mailbox-enabled users have been disconnected, you can use the Exchange 2003 Setup program to remove Exchange 2003.

However, you may not be able to use the Exchange 2003 Setup program to remove Exchange 2003. In this scenario, you can manually remove Exchange 2003. You must first stop and disable all Exchange services. You can then use Registry Editor to remove registry keys that are part of the Exchange installation. After you have removed the registry keys, you must remove and then reinstall Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). You must then reinstall any service packs or security updates that had been installed on your server.

If you have a clustered server, do not remove the Common Files, or the Cluster service will also be removed. If this service is removed, you must reinstall the Cluster service.

INTRODUCTION

A situation may occur when you must remove Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 from your computer. Before you can remove Exchange 2003 from your computer, you must disconnect all mailbox-enabled users from the mailboxes on the Exchange server. You can then run the Exchange Server 2003 Installation Wizard and click the Remove option for the installed components on the Component Selection screen.

However, if you cannot use the Exchange Server 2003 Installation Wizard to remove Exchange 2003, you can use Registry Editor to manually remove the registry settings for Exchange 2003.

Use the Active Directory User and Computers snap-in to disconnect all mailbox-enabled users

You cannot remove the Exchange 2003 components if the Exchange server still has mailboxes for mailbox-enabled users. To use the Active Directory User and Computers snap-in to disconnect all mailbox-enabled users, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Users and Computers.
  2. Expand Your_Domain, and then click Users.

    Note In this step, Your_Domain is a placeholder for the name of your domain.
  3. Press and hold CTRL, click the user name of each user who has a mailbox on the server, right-click the user names that you selected, click Exchange Tasks, and then release CTRL.
  4. In the Select a task to perform list, click Delete Mailbox, and then click Next.
  5. On the Delete Mailbox page, click Next.
  6. Wait for the mailboxes to be deleted, and then click Finish.

Run the Exchange Server 2003 Setup program to remove the installed components

You can remove the Exchange components by running the Exchange Server 2003 Setup program from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel on the computer that is running Exchange Server 2003. To do this, follow these steps.

Note Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. In the Currently installed programs list, click Microsoft Exchange, and then click Change/Remove.
  4. In Microsoft Exchange Installation Wizard, click Next.
  5. In the Action list on the Component Selection page, click the down arrow next to each component that has been installed, and then click Remove.

    Note Installed components have a check mark in the Action list. When you click Remove, the check mark is replaced by the word Remove.
  6. Click Next two times.
  7. Click Finish.

Manually remove Exchange 2003

If you cannot remove Exchange 2003 by using Add/Remove Programs, you can use Registry Editor to remove the Exchange entries from the registry. Before you edit the registry, you must stop and disable all Exchange 2003 services on the computer.

Stop and disable the Exchange 2003 services

The following table lists the core Exchange Server 2003 services:
NameDescription
Distributed Transaction Coordinator Coordinates transactions that are distributed across multiple databases, message queues, and file systems.
Internet Information Services (IIS) Admin ServiceAllows you to administer the Exchange HTTP virtual server in the IIS snap-in.
Microsoft Exchange EventMonitors folders and generates events for Exchange Server 5.5 applications.
Microsoft Exchange Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP4)Provides Exchange IMAP4 services.
Microsoft Exchange Information StoreManages Exchange information storage.
Microsoft Exchange Management ServiceHosts Exchange WMI providers
Microsoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent (MTA) Stacks Provides Exchange X.400 services.
Microsoft Exchange Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3)Provides Exchange POP3 services.
Microsoft Exchange Routing EngineProcesses Exchange message routing and link state information.
Microsoft Exchange Site Replication ServiceReplicates Exchange information in the organization.
Microsoft Exchange System AttendantMonitors Exchange and provides necessary services.
Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)Transports newsgroup messages across the network.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)Transports e-mail across the network.
World Wide Web Publishing ServiceProvides HTTP services for Exchange and IIS.
To stop and disable the Exchange 2003 services, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
  2. In the Name list, right-click an Exchange service, and then click Stop.
  3. After the service stops, right-click the Exchange service again, and then click Properties.
  4. In the Startup type list, click Disabled, and then click OK.
  5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for every Exchange service.

Use Registry Editor to remove the Exchange registry keys

To remove the Exchange registry keys, follow these steps.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  2. Locate and then click the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange

  3. Right-click Exchange, and then click Delete. Click Yes in the Confirm Key Delete dialog box.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each of the following registry keys:
Registry KeyDefinition
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DAVEXWebDAV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EXIFSMicrosoft Exchange Installable File System
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ExIPCEpoxy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EXOLEDBExchange OLE DB
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IMAP4Svc Microsoft Exchange IMAP4
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeActiveSynchNotifyMicrosoft Exchange ActiveSynch Notifications
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeADDXAMicrosoft Exchange Active Directory Connection Agreements
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeAL Microsoft Exchange Address Lists
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeDSAccessMicrosoft Exchange access to Active Directory
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeESMicrosoft Exchange Event
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeFBPublishMicrosoft Exchange Publish Free/Busy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeISMicrosoft Exchange Information Store
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeMGMTMicrosoft Exchange Management
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeMTAMicrosoft Exchange Message Transfer Agent Stacks
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeMU Microsoft Exchange Directory Service to Metabase
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeOMAMicrosoft Exchange Outlook Mobile Access
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA Microsoft Exchange System Attendant
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSRS Microsoft Exchange Site Replication Service
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeTransport Microsoft Exchange Message Routing
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeWEBMicrosoft Exchange Outlook Web Access
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\POP3Svc Microsoft Exchange POP3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RESvc Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine
If there is a Notes connector or a GroupWise connector installed on the server that is running Exchange Server 2003, remove the related registry entries in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services:
  • Anything that starts with LME-
  • Anything that starts with SERVERNAME-LME
If Microsoft Office 2003, Office XP, or Microsoft Windows SharePoint Service is not installed, remove the related registry entries in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services:
  • MSSEARCH
Additionally, you must rename the Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Integration\Microsoft Exchange 2003 folder. For example, rename Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Integration\Microsoft Exchange to Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Integration\Microsoft Exchange Old.

Remove and reinstall the Internet Information Services (IIS) component

To remove and reinstall IIS, use one of the following methods, depending on your environment: For a Windows 2000-based cluster node or for a standalone server that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows Server 2003Important If your computer is a clustered server, you must remove only the IIS component. Do not remove the Common Files. If you remove the Common Files, you also remove the Cluster service. If you remove the Cluster service, you must reinstall it.

Note Make a note of any service packs and security updates that were previously installed on your server. You must reinstall them.

To remove the IIS component, follow these steps:
  1. To remove the IIS component from a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, follow these steps:
    1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
    2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
    3. In the Components list, click to clear the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box.

      Note If your computer is a clustered server, click Details, click to clear all the subcomponent check boxes except the Common Files check box, and then click OK.
    4. Click Next, and then click Finish.
    To remove the IIS component from a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, follow these steps:
    1. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
    2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
    3. Click Application Server, and then click Details.
    4. Click to clear the ASP.NET check box, and then click to clear the Internet Information Services check box.
    5. In the Application Server dialog box, click OK.
    6. In the Windows Components Wizard, click Next.
  2. Restart your server.
  3. Start Windows Explorer, and then locate the Exchsrvr folder.
  4. Rename the Exchsrvr folder to Exchsrvrold.
  5. Remove the following file from the %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv folder. For Windows Server 2003, remove the Metabase.xml file. For Windows 2000 Server, remove the Metabase.bin file.

    Note The Windows Component Wizard may have already removed the Metabase.xml file or the Metabase.bin file.
  6. Reinstall the IIS component.

    To reinstall the IIS component on a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server, follow these steps:
    1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
    2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
    3. In the Components list, click to select the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box.
    4. Click Next, and then click Finish.
    To reinstall the IIS component on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, follow these steps:
    1. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
    2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
    3. Click Application Server, and then click Details.
    4. Click to select the ASP.NET check box, and then click to select the Internet Information Services check box.
    5. Click Next, and then click Finish.
    Note If your computer is running Windows Server 2003, remember to reinstall ASP.NET and the SMTP and NNTP services.
  7. Reinstall any service packs and security updates that were previously installed on your server.
For a Windows Server 2003-based cluster nodeTo remove and reinstall IIS on a Windows Server 2003-based cluster node, follow these steps.

Note These steps describe how to remove and reinstall IIS on the passive node of a server cluster.
  1. Remove IIS from the passive cluster node. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, click Run, type appwiz.cpl, and then click OK.
    2. Click Add/Remove Windows components.
    3. Click Application Server, and then click Details.
    4. Click to clear the ASP.NET check box, click to clear the Internet Information Services check box, and then click OK.
    5. Click Next.
    6. On the Completing the Windows Components Wizard page of the Windows Components Wizard, click Finish.
  2. Evict the passive cluster node from the server cluster. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the active node of the server cluster, start the Cluster Administrator program, and connect to the cluster that you want to manage.
    2. In the Cluster Administrator tool, expand the cluster, right-click the passive node, and then click Stop Cluster Service.
    3. Right-click the passive node, click Evict Node, and then click Yes to the following message that appears:Evicting a node will prevent it from participating in the cluster. Are you sure node 'NodeName' should be evicted from the cluster?
  3. Force the Cluster Service to be returned to an unconfigured state on the now-evicted passive cluster node. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the active cluster node, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
    2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

      cluster node NetBIOSname /force

      In this command, replace NetBIOSname with the NetBIOS name of the now-evicted passive cluster node.
  4. Restart the evicted cluster node computer.
  5. Rejoin the evicted cluster node to the server cluster. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the active cluster node, start the Cluster Administrator tool, and then connect to the cluster that you want to manage.
    2. Right-click the cluster name, point to New, and then click Node.
    3. Follow the steps in the Add Node Wizard to add the evicted cluster node back to the server cluster.
  6. Reinstall IIS on the newly added passive cluster node. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the passive cluster node, click Start, click Run, type appwiz.cpl, and then click OK.
    2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
    3. Click Application Server, and then click Details.
    4. Click to select the Internet Information Services check box, click to select the ASP.NET check box, and then click OK.
    5. Click Next, and then click Finish.

      Note You may also want to reinstall the SMTP and NNTP services.
  7. Reinstall any service packs and security updates that were previously installed on the server.

Remove the Exchange 2003 server object from the Exchange 5.5 Admin program

If the Exchange 2003 server is installed in an existing Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 site, and you use the Exchange 5.5 Admin program, you must delete the Exchange 2003 server object from the Exchange 5.5 Admin program.

Note You may have to remove Active Directory objects that are associated with the server that you removed.

Remove the Exchange 2003 server from Active Directory

To remove the Exchange 2003 server from Active Directory, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
  2. Expand Administrative Groups/Your_Administrative _Group_Name/Servers.

    Note In this step, Your_Administrative _Group_Name is a placeholder for the name of your administrative group.
  3. Right-click the name of the Exchange 2003 server that you want to remove, click All Tasks, and then click Remove Server.
This procedure will remove all references to the server in Active Directory and remove the mailbox-enabling attributes from all Active Directory users who have mailboxes on the server that you removed.

If you cannot install or run Exchange System Manager, you may use the ADSI Edit snap-in to manually remove enough of the server attributes so that you can try a successful reinstallation. This method does not perform cleanups of references to the server object outside the server's own container. Microsoft does not recommend that you use this method unless you intend to immediately reinstall the server in the same administrative group, because you may have to manually remove or edit many attributes on objects throughout Active Directory.

The ADSI Edit snap-in is available in Windows Support Tools. For more information about how to install Windows 2000 Support Tools, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

301423 How to install the Windows 2000 Support Tools to a Windows 2000 Server-based computer


Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.
To use the ADSI Edit snap-in to remove an Exchange 2003 server from an Exchange 2003 administrative group, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Windows 2000 Support Tools, point to Tools, and then click ADSI Edit.
  2. Expand each of the following items:

    Configuration Container
    CN=Configuration, DC=Domain_Name,DC=com
    CN=Services
    CN=Microsoft Exchange
    CN=Your_Organization_Name
    CN=Administrative Groups
    CN=Your_Administrative_Group_Name_Or_Exchange5.5_Site_Name
    CN=Servers


    Note In this procedure, Domain_Name is a placeholder for the name of your domain, Your_Organization_Name is a placeholder for the name of your organization, and Your_Administrative_Group_Name_Or_Exchange5.5_Site_Name is a placeholder for the name of your administrative group or Exchange 5.5 site.
  3. Right-click the Exchange 2003 server object, and then click Delete.
  4. Click Yes in every adsiedit dialog box that prompts you to confirm the deletion.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/4/2005
Keywords:kbHOWTOmaster KB833396 kbAudITPRO
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