Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of aconway
aconway

asked on

Cannot uninstall old Exchange server after migration

I am trying to uninstall Exchange 2003 from my old server.  I performed a server migration a couple months ago following this guide: http://www.amset.info/exchange/migration.asp 

I had some issues, but eventually got everything sorted out, all the mailboxes moved, public folders, replications, roles, etc.  I ran DCPromo on the old Exchange server and removed it from ADS.  Now I am trying to uninstall Exchange from Add/Remove programs and it's telling me that One or more user has a mailbox on the server and it has to be moved before I can uninstall Exchange.

The only 3 mailboxes that show up in the ESM on the old server are the SMTP, System Attendant and SystemMailbox.  There are no user mailboxes left.  Everything has been moved and running on my new server for over a month now.  I need to get rid of this old Exchange Server so it's no longer recognized as part of my Exchange topology...



 
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of redseatechnologies
redseatechnologies
Flag of Australia image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of aconway
aconway

ASKER

I had another DC already up and running before I ran DCPromo on the old server.
Avatar of aconway

ASKER

It wouldn't uninstall before I demoted it either... demoting it was something I was doing along the troubleshooting lines...
Avatar of aconway

ASKER

and there was a rogue mailbox, found deleted and now it uninstalls.  That was the problem.
You never, ever demote an exchange server (or promote it for that matter) - dcpromo'ing an exchange server is not part of any troubleshooting line, and should not be done.

Glad to hear you got it sorted

-red
We have had the same problem, regarding someone demoting the DC before removing exchange.

We now have a new DC and Exchange how do we remove any entries or information pointing to the old exchange server?