MANUAL RIP -EXCHANGE SERVER 2K7/2k10

The worst part about Microsoft apps is the LEFTOVERz- Applications like Microsoft Office suites as well as Exchange Servers never cease their existence even after they are uninstalled and this leads a common terms known to Support Engineers as"Manual Rip". 


In this post we'll RIP Exchange 2007- MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A BACKUP of THE REGISTRY bf working on it.


Perform a normal Uninstallation from Programs and Features and in case you get any error like "Unable to contact Active Directory" proceed with these steps below::::::


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


1. Open Services.msc and Disable all the services related to Exchange- Generally stopping the 1st services disables all the other services due to their dependencies.
(In case, you are unable to stop the Exchange Transport service- Leave it we'll handle it later)


2. Open 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


3. Uninstall the Web Server(IIS) from the Server Roles (Restart is Must)


4. Remove the Exchange 2007 server from Active Directory(IN case you're adding this server to the same Domain)
Delete “Microsoft Exchange” branch from ADSIEdit (Configuration Container > Services > Microsoft Exchange)  or the domain named branch


5. Open Windows Explorer to delete the repositories:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server
• C:\ExchangeSetupLogs

Now in the Exchange Setup Logs folder you'll find the Exchange Transport service related .dll file which might give you an "Access Denied" error while deleting.........

No you're not stuck:::: Just change the Owner from the security tab to Administrator(Your domain) from System  and then delete the file...... This file doesn't generally create any issues you can even let it RIP there.

Alasssssssssssssss use the best ever tool made by Microsoft and still loved and in use by Support Engineers- Yes, WICU- WIndows Installer Cleanup Utiltiy

Open WICU and delete any instances related to Exchange.

Restart your system and then RE INSTALL IIS and you're ready to RUMBLE and install Exchange as fresh as a cucumber!!!!!!!!!!!

=================================================================