How to Uninstall Exchange Server 2003

 

After ensuring that your organization meets certain prerequisites, you can run Exchange Setup to uninstall Exchange Server 2003. To uninstall Exchange Server 2003, you must have the Exchange Server 2003 CD or access to the Exchange Server 2003 setup files.

Before You Begin

To remove Exchange Server 2003, you must first ensure that your organization meets certain prerequisites. Of these prerequisites, the following are enforced by Exchange Server 2003 Setup:

• If you have Exchange Full Administrator permissions at the administrative group level, you can uninstall Exchange Server 2003, provided that you have permissions for the administrative group to which the server belongs. For more information about Exchange Server 2003 permissions, see the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide.

• If there are any mailboxes assigned to a storage group on a server, you cannot uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from that server. In this case, you must either move or delete the mailboxes before you can uninstall Exchange. For more information on how to move mailboxes, see How to Use Exchange Task Wizard to Move Mailboxes.

• You cannot uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from a server if it is the only server in your organization running the Recipient Update Service. Instead, you must first use Exchange System Manager to enable the Recipient Update Service on another server. For more information on how to create a new Recipient Update Service, see How to Create a New Recipient Update Service.

• You cannot uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from a server if it is the only server in a mixed administrative group that is running Site Replication Service (SRS). Instead, you must first enable SRS on another Exchange server.

• You cannot uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from a server if it is a bridgehead server for a connector and there are other Exchange servers in your organization. Instead, you must first designate a new bridgehead server.

• You cannot uninstall Exchange Server 2003 from a server if it is the routing master and there are other Exchange servers in your organization. Instead, you must first designate a new routing master.

The following prerequisites are not enforced by Exchange Setup and must be manually checked:

• If your server is in one administrative group, but is also in a routing group that exists in a different administrative group, you must have permissions for both administrative groups (or to the Exchange organization), otherwise the uninstall process will fail. For more information about Exchange Server 2003 permissions, see the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide.

• You cannot use Setup in unattended mode to uninstall Exchange Server 2003.

To uninstall the last Exchange Server 2003 server in the forest and remove your Exchange organization, you must use an account that has Exchange Full Administrator permissions at the organization level and is a local administrator on the computer. Specifically, you can use the account you designated while running ForestPrep or an account from the group that you designated. For more information about Exchange Server 2003 permissions, see the Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide.

Procedure

To uninstall Exchange Server 2003

1. Log on to the server from which you want to uninstall Exchange.

2. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.

3. In Add or Remove Programs, select Microsoft Exchange, and then click Change/Remove.

4. On the Welcome to the Microsoft Exchange Installation Wizard page, click Next.

5. On the Component Selection page, in the Action column, use the drop-down arrows to select Remove, and then click Next.

   The Component Selection page

   

6. On the Installation Summary page, verify that the Action column is set to Remove, and then click Next.

7. On the Completing the Microsoft Exchange Installation Wizard page, click Finish.