Article Manza - The Articles Directory | Steps to Uninstall Exchange 2007

The process involved in installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is no doubt a child's play. But, if you are willing to uninstall Exchange 2007, be prepared for a little lengthy and complicated process. Uninstalling the Exchange Server 2007 is not as easy as running the Setup and selecting the 'Uninstall' option in the final window! In fact, the process becomes challenging because several important removal functions and tasks have not been outlined explicitly in the Setup Wizard of Exchange 2007. Besides, moving the four important roles to a different hardware or removing them permanently also involve many complicated steps. Majority of people find uninstalling the Hub Transport and the Mailbox Server Roles particularly challenging. Here are some detailed steps and guidelines to make this complicated process a bit easier for you.

If you are willing to completely uninstall Exchange 2007, you must also uninstall all the four server roles, namely Client Access, Edge Transport, Hub Transport, and Mailbox Server Roles. However, before you do so, you must initiate the Exchange 2007 uninstall. The following steps involved in starting the uninstall process are fairly simple -

Step 1: Go to the "Add/Remove Programs" function in the 'Control panel' of your server. You may access the 'Control panel' from the Start Menu.

Step 2: You will now be presented with a list of all the programs that are installed on the system. Choose 'Microsoft Exchange Server 2007' from the given list and click on "Remove". This will launch the Setup Wizard of Exchange 2007.

Step 3: You will be presented with a 'Welcome Screen' that you may bypass by clicking on "Next"

Step 4: The screen that appears next will prompt you to choose the server roles that you wish to uninstall/remove from the server. Just clear all the check-boxes corresponding to the roles you wish to remove.

Step 5: Click on "Next" to begin the uninstall process.

These five basic steps can be followed to uninstall Exchange 2007 completely as well as to remove just a single role from the system. But, the process is not as simple as it seems! After you click on "Next" in the fifth step, a readiness check is initiated by the Wizard and that is when the whole problem starts!

Actually, the Exchange 2007 wizard cannot deal with the role removal all by itself. There are a number of complicated tasks that need to be managed before removing the roles.

Although the Setup Wizard notifies the user about the type of tasks to be performed, it does not give any instructions on how to perform each of these tasks. Instead, it prompts you to browse through websites providing "Recommended Actions" links, most of which are vague. Therefore, after initiating the aforementioned process to uninstall Exchange 2007, you must follow specific instructions to remove each of the four server roles.

For all these detailed instructions and updates, you may go to Uninstall Exchange 2007

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