When launching Exchange Server 2010 setup you may encounter this error message.
The Exchange Server is in an inconsistent state. Only disaster recovery mode is available. Please use Setup /m:RecoverServer to recover this Exchange server.
This can occur when the Exchange server object already exists within Active Directory, which can occur when a server has been uninstalled and you are attempting to reinstall it.
If you do not wish to use disaster recovery mode to reinstall the server you must first remove the Exchange server object from Active Directory.
Launch ADSIEdit.msc and navigate to CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=<Your Organization Name>, CN=Administrative Groups, CN= <Exchange 2010 Administrative Group>, CN=Servers, CN=<Server Name>, and then delete the server object.
In this example screenshot the server name is EX2.
After deleting the object you may need to wait for the change to replicate throughout Active Directory. Then you can relaunch Exchange setup and proceed with your installation as planned.
About Paul Cunningham
I had to open the advanced settings on the Connect To and change to Global Catalog inorder to see the Object. Now that i have found it, I am unable to delete the object though. I am logged in as Domain Admin account, tried on workstation, and both DC. i see the Delete button (red x) but it wont let me remove anything. click it and it does nothing!
any ideas?
i am not able to find such a option in adedit for delete unnecessary servers showin in EMC,
Exchange version : 2010 Ent
OS : windows 2008 Ent
Any solution pls,,,,,,
Tim, I’ve never encountered that problem before. I guess make sure you’re running ADSIEdit.msc with elevated privileges.
I don’t usually use the red X either, just the Delete key on my keyboard.
Great work its what I neded.
Thanks Bro Best Regards From México City
Thanks a lot. I had to go to the Advanced Settings and Select a well-known naming context (option Configuration). I also had to specify the Administrator credentials for the DC.
Very big THANKS. It helped me
You’ve saved mse a heap of work – great article.
Thanks again.
All the the best from Belfast…
Hi,
We had a crash on a Exchange server and had to reinstall the server. We had to rename the server before we managed to install it. So now I can see both server in the EMC. It is just to delite that old object with ADSI edit and then it would be delited from EMC too or do I have to do more, like a metadata cleanup?
So a recovery install wouldn’t work?
I wouldn’t just delete it as a first option, if possible do a recovery install and then cleanly uninstall it from the org. That would be my first option.
I don’t see
CN=Configuration, CN=Services
Launch ADSIEdit.msc and navigate to CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=Microsoft Exchange, CN=, CN=Administrative Groups, CN= , CN=Servers, CN=, and then delete the server object.
Hi ckara, when you open ADSEdit and connect to AD make sure you choose “Configuration” as the “well known Naming Context” to connect to.
Thank you Paul. This article has a great value. Saludos from Monterrey, Mexico.
Respected Paul i install exchange server 2010 but at final step of installation i got this error at hub transport MS EXCHANGE TRANSPORT FAILED TO REAACH STATUS RUNNING ON THIS SERVER i am working on vmware my ad dhcp dns on same virtual machine plz plz help me
Check for clock skew between the Exchange server and the DC. This is common in virtualized environments.
Hi Paul,
I have installed Exchange 2010 with SP1, 2 CAS/HT and 2 mailbox server, after installation tried upgrading to SP2 CAS/HT and one of the mailbox server got upgraded to SP2 but one mail box gave me error “could not copy file specified path not found” error 2 and after that server got restarted. Now i have following situtation :
1) Tried reinstalling SP2 but it says
Some controls aren’t valid
- The previous installation path could not be found in the registry. only Disaster recovery mode is available.
- The Previously installed version could not be determined from the registry. Only disaster recovery mode is available.
2) Tried reinstalling 2010 with sp from original DVD but getting same error as stated above.
3) Tried running setup.com /mode:RecoverServer. but again same error
E:\>SETUP.COM /mode:RecoverServer
Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unattended Setup
Setup will continue momentarily, unless you press any key and cancel the
installation. By continuing the installation process, you agree to the license
terms of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
If you don’t accept these license terms, please cancel the installation. To
review the license terms, please go to
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=150127&clcid=0×409/
Press any key to cancel setup…………….
No key presses were detected. Setup will continue.
Preparing Exchange Setup
Copying Setup Files COMPLETED
The following server roles will be upgraded
Languages
Mailbox Role
Management Tools
The previous installation path could not be found in the registry. Only disaster
recovery mode is available.
The previously installed version could not be determined from the registry. Only
disaster recovery mode is available.
Can you let me know how do i recover my exchange server from such situtation
Did some search on technet and found out solution to previous problem.
looked at registry path HKLM\software\Microsoft\Exchange server \V14
- deleted “Setup” nodes under V14
- Reboot the server
- Run setup.com /m:recoverserver
and the setup started but at the step when it says installing mailbox role it gave me another error given below
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] [ERROR] The following error was generated when “$error.Clear();
if ($exsSid -eq $null -or $exsSid -eq “”)
{
$exsSid = get-ExchangeServerGroupSID -DomainController $RoleDomainController
}
start-setupservice -ServiceName MSExchangeADTopology -ServiceParameters $exsSid,$RoleDomainController
” was run: “Service ‘MSExchangeADTopology’ failed to start due to error:’Cannot start service MSExchangeADTopology on computer ‘.’.’.”.
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] [ERROR] Service ‘MSExchangeADTopology’ failed to start due to error:’Cannot start service MSExchangeADTopology on computer ‘.’.’.
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] [ERROR] Cannot start service MSExchangeADTopology on computer ‘.’.
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] [ERROR] The system cannot find the file specified
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] [ERROR-REFERENCE] Id=AllADRolesCommonServiceControl___e95681b135f04f6ca85c706536bfbeed Component=EXCHANGE14:\Current\Release\Shared\Datacenter\Setup
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] Setup is stopping now because of one or more critical errors.
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] Finished executing component tasks.
[04-20-2012 10:22:43.0079] [1] Ending processing DisasterRecovery-MailboxRole
Hi,
After a power outage at our datacenter we are experiencing lots of errors:
1. Some users cannot get into outlook. When I try to check their inbox it looks like the object does not exist. Their bounceback also suggests they do not exist. They do still have an exchnage object in AD
2. Some users can receive mail on their phones via push mail and some users cannot
3. Some users have emails missing
4. Various other issues like viewing calendars and owa access and such.
I tried restoring the database to a point before the outage and these issues still occour which would suggest it is not a database issue. I have since restarted all exchange servers and this has not fixed the issue.
Any ideas what this could be?
In ad we have an ou called Microsoft Exchnage hosted Organizations. It was automatically created when we installed exchange with the /hosted switch
Now evertime we create an org it creates an OU under that with the org name. In that OU when you create an new mailbox it creates an object in there for the mailbox. It looks like a user object. This is the object I was reffering to.
When I do the check mailbox in EMC thats what suggested it didnt have only, However when I run get-mailboxdatabasestatistics it shows in there. Also it lets me disable the mailbox. I have since disabled one of the mailboxes and connected it to another object I created by doing a new-mailbox command and then disabling its mailbox and attaching the other one(not sure if that is the right way to do it). Since connecting it to the new mailbox I created I cannot get it to match the name of either the original email address or the second I created in exchange. I’m not sure which address I should have tried.
Any suggestions?
I don’t do any work with hosted installs so I can’t offer you any advice there sorry.
Hi Paul,
Tried to Upgrade my exchange-it gave me the error “The Exchange Server is in an inconsistent state…”
Did what you said by deleting the server object.
in short.. Nothing works on my exchange, Any idea of how I can restore the object?
Hi Neels,
You were trying to upgrade your server? I assume you mean a service pack or update rollup?
This article refers to a particular scenario:
“This can occur when the Exchange server object already exists within Active Directory, which can occur when a server has been uninstalled and you are attempting to reinstall it.
If you do not wish to use disaster recovery mode to reinstall the server you must first remove the Exchange server object from Active Directory.”
At this stage I suggest you explorer your Active Directory recovery options.
Hi Paul,
I have tried removing the server using asdiedit and then running the installation again. It failed in the same spot, Installing the Hub Trasport. Before I found this site I ran the setup in disaster recovery mode and it too failed on the Hub Transport install. Please help me if you can.
The message I am currently getting is “set up previously failed while performing the action disaster recovery and you cant resume setup by performing action install”
This was a new install of the only exchange server in the domain.
Execellent Article, great contribution Paul, keep it up.
Reg – sami
Hi Guys,
You are the best you made my day, after 3 days of troubleshooting… Thanks you guys are the best.
Dolapo
This fixed one hiccup on my way to reinstalling 2010 Exchange. However I cannot get through PrepareAD with a message :
< The following error was generated when "$error.clear(); initialze-ExchangeUniversalGroups -DomainController $RoleDomainController" was run: "The well-known object entry B:32:C262A929D691B74A9E068728F8F842EA:CN=Organization ManagementADEL:b7696782-3e83-446e-9edb-e640-de6e2da5,CN=Deleted Objects,DC=ecu,DC=ecu-waco,DC=org on the otherwelllnownobjects attribute in the container object CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=ecu,DC=ecu-waco,DC=org points to an invalid DN or a deleted object. Remove the entry, and then rerun the task.".
I cannot find CN=Organization Management in ADSIedit, I was told to use ldp /adsiedit: but not what object to delete, or perhaps after 2 days of this I am just going blind.
it works great tnx mate…………
Hi Paul
our exchange server crashed and it was on a dc, so now I am using the second domain in our network and trying to install exchange on it, when I install I get error Exchange Server 2010 Some control aren’t valid, I goto reg and don’t have any exchange reg entry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft, the domain controller has Microsoft Exchange securities in ad, also I create a new server for mail using the old exchange server name and ip(this was old dc and mail server)
HI Update to my issue above, ran ADSIedit and removed all entries to exchange, also removed Microsoft security Groups and reboot server, exchange installed 100%
thanks
Claude