How to Install Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008

In this article, I’ll go into a little more depth and walk you through installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008.

How to Prepare Your Server for Exchange 2007

While the Exchange team took the liberty of taking away the need for slipstreaming SP1, the prerequisites for installing Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 are the most notable difference compared to installing on Windows Server 2003.

Installing Exchange Server 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008 still requires that you meet the minimum hardware, network and software requirements outlined in the Exchange 2007 System Requirements on Microsoft TechNet.

In addition to the system requirements listed there, you will also need to have the components listed below installed:

• .NET Framework version 2.0 or 3.0
• Windows PowerShell
• Internet Information Server 7

Depending on the Exchange Server 2007 roles being installed, the features and role services required varies. I have listed all the required features and role services for a typical Exchange Server 2007 installation (Hub Transport, Client Access and Mailbox server roles) below.

Server Features:

• .NET Framework 3.0
• Remote Server Administration Tools
  • Role Administration Tools
    • Active Directory Domain Services
• Windows PowerShell

Web Server Roles:

• Common HTTP Features
  • Static Content
  • Default Document
  • Directory Browsing
  • HTTP Errors
• Application Development
  • ISAPI Extensions
• Health and Diagnostics
  • HTTP Logging
  • Request Manager
• Security
  • Basic Authentication
  • Digest Authentication
  • Windows Authentication
  • Request Filtering
• Performance
  • Static Content Compression
  • Dynamic Content Compression
• Management
  • IIS Management Console
  • IIS 6 Management Compatibility
    • IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
    • IIS 6 Management Console

Installing the features and roles can be accomplished with the Add Features and Add Roles wizards or through the command prompt. You may wish to take advantage of Windows Server 2008 intuitive new Add Features and Add Roles if you want to be aware of what purpose each feature and role service serves.

if you just want to get the prerequisites out of the way and on to the actual installation, you can simply enter the commands below into a command prompt window, in the order in which they are listed:

ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS
ServerManagerCmd -i PowerShell
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-ISAPI-Ext
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Metabase
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-Auth
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Digest-Auth
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-Auth
ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Dyn-Compression

For specific requirements of each Exchange Server role visit How to Install Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008 on Microsoft TechNet.

Once you have the components outlined above installed to the server and assuming it is joined to the appropriate internal domain, you should be ready to start the installation.

Installing Exchange Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008

Since a lot of you may be working with the downloaded Exchange Server 2007 SP1 media, the installation will start off a little different than with the RTM version on DVD.

1. Open the executable file you downloaded from the link in the third paragraph of this article which should be labeled E2K7SP1EN32.exe unless you selected a language other than English.

You should be prompted to select the path to extract the installation files. Choose the directory you wish to extract to, then click the OK button.

2. Navigate to the directory you chose to extract the Exchange installation files to, then run Setup.exe. This will open the Exchange 2007 installation start page.

3. As long as you installed the prerequisites outlined above, steps one through three should be disabled. Click on Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange to begin the installation.

4. Click the Next button to continue past the Introduction portion of the installation.

5. In the License Agreement portion of the installation you must click the radio button labeled I accept the terms in the license agreement to proceed. Then click the Next button to continue.

6. The Error Reporting portion of the installation is where you choose whether you wish to automatically send error reporting information to Microsoft. Make your choice by clicking the appropriate radio button then click Next.

7. The Installation Type portion of the installation is where you can choose to perform a Typical Exchange Server Installation or Custom Exchange Server Installation.

You can also choose the installation path from this portion. For this example, I have chosen a Typical Exchange Server Installation and accepted the default installation path. Click the Next button to continue.

8. The Exchange Organization portion of the installation is where you can supply a name for your organization. I have chosen to accept the default here. After you have entered your organization name click the Next button to continue.

9. The Client Settings portion of the installation is where you choose whether to create a public folder database for clients running Outlook 2003 and earlier or Entourage.

Click the appropriate radio button for your organization then click the Next button to continue.

10. The Readiness Checks portion of the installation checks that the server meets all the requirements for each Exchange role being installed. The checks may take a few minutes to complete.

As long as the checks complete successfully, you can then click the Install button to perform the installation of Exchange Server 2007.

11. The Progress portion on the installation will report the progress of the installation of each Exchange component being installed.

Typically the time required for the installation will be 30 minutes to an hour depending on the speed of the computer and the components being installed.

When the installation completes you will be brought to the Completion portion of the installation. From here you can choose whether to finalize the installation with the Exchange Management Console. Click the Finish button to complete the installation.

12. After completing the installation the installation start page will appear once more. From here you can click Step 5: Get Critical Updates for Microsoft Exchange to use Windows Update to install any updates for the server.

Performing the Microsoft Update on Windows Server 2008 after the Exchange 2007 installation is where things once again get a bit different than installing on Windows Server 2003.

If you wish you can simply close this window and run the new Windows Update from the Windows Server 2008 Control Panel and bypass the next step.

13. If you chose to use the update link from the Exchange installation start page you will be brought to the Microsoft Update site but it will only be to configure Windows Server 2008’s new update applet available from the control panel.

To proceed with the update check the box labeled I accept the Terms of Use then click the Next button to continue.

Choose whether to Use the current or recommended settings then click the Install button to continue.

You will then be brought to the page that indicates that Microsoft Update was successfully installed. Feel free to close this window as the new Windows Update applet should run automatically.

14. The Windows Update applet will begin by checking for updates which may take a few minutes to complete.

15. When Windows Update is finished checking you will be notified how many updates are available.

From here you can choose to click View available updates to view and choose which updates to install or click the Install updates button to simply install the important updates.

After choosing to install the updates Windows Update will proceed to download and install the updates.

16. Finally, after the updates are successfully installed you are ready to complete the installation process by closing the Windows Update applet and seal the deal with a reboot of the server.