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2009/01/23 / Koen Vermoesen

Manually Remove Exchange 2007

Last couple of days I was trying to jumpstart an Exchange 2007 install that got hosed.

At a certain moment I couldn’t install because of an incomplete uninstall. Uninstalling exchange was also unsuccessful because some objects were missing from Active Directory. When I finally got out of that loop, I started getting complaints about MSI’s that could not be found/unpacked. I wanted to avoid reinstalling the OS so I tried removing exchange manually.

  1. Run setup /m:uninstall
  2. Stop and disable all the Exchange 2007 services
  3. Use Registry Editor (Start->Run->Regedit) to remove these Exchange related registry keys:
    • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange
    • HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchange* (all the keys starting with “MSExchange”)
    • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Exchange
  4. Remove the entire Web Server role (don’t forget to reinstall afterwards as it’s a prerequisite for E2K7!)
  5. Remove the Exchange 2007 server from Active Directory. I ended up deleting the entire “Microsoft Exchange” branch from ADSIEdit (Configuration Container > Services > Microsoft Exchange) as my Org only counts one server.
  6. Use Windows Explorer to delete:
    • C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server
    • C:\ExchangeSetupLogs
  7. Use Windows Installer CleanUp Utility to remove all the exchange related info from the installer database.
  8. Remove the security groups created by Exchange setup from AD

Note: Manually removing Exchange 2007 is not supported by Microsoft! Official guidance for removing Exchange 2007 can be found in this TechNet article.

16 Comments

Leave a Comment
  1. Chris / Mar 4 2009 11:38

    I had big problems with y exchange and tried man things. Finally I found your manual which helped me because i also did not want to reinstall windows. I have to confirm that it works great.

    Greez Chris

  2. Joe / Mar 11 2009 21:13

    Yes, this works.

  3. richard hinds / May 29 2009 21:18

    good one!
    thanks a lot!

  4. Els De Braekeleer / Oct 24 2009 19:32

    Koentje, stuur mij aub es een mailke met u email, ik moet u iets vragen! Thanx!

  5. Nattu / Nov 1 2009 15:03

    Thanks buddy..it works for me…

  6. JenZ / Feb 8 2010 19:27

    Koen,

    Mijn Win2003 DC (met Exchange 07 installed) gaat nu rebooten nadat ik je stappenplan doorlopen heb.

    Ik hoop vurig dat het werkt en dan kom ik je persoonlijke 3 dikke kussen geven!
    Bedankt alvast!

  7. andreas kossatz / Apr 23 2010 21:07

    funktioniert wunderbar . echt super. damit können alle alten installationen 2007-2010 entfernt werden

  8. Anonymous / Aug 24 2010 17:56

    thank

  9. Anonymous / Mar 2 2012 04:47

    Hi Koen Vermoesen,

    My server Exchange is dead because of broken HDD.
    So, how can i delete Exchange Object on AD?
    Thanks,

    • Koen Vermoesen / Mar 9 2012 11:32

      Hi, Step 5 in the procedure above explains just that.

Trackbacks

  1. Exchange 2007 – Can’t Uninstall, Can’t Reinstall « messageflip
  2. How to Upgrade Single Server Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 In 2 Hours - Up & Running Technologies Calgary
  3. How to Upgrade Single Server Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 « Memorise
  4. Se livre definitivamente do Exchange Server 2007/2011 » CafeNerd

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