Error message when you try to remove Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server: "0x80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server"

When you try to remove Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server or Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 from a computer, or when you try to remove an Exchange Server component, you experience one or both of the following symptoms:

• You receive the following error message:
  Setup encountered an error while checking prerequisites for the component "Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Services":
  0x80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
• Information that resembles the following information is logged in the drive:\Exchange Server Setup Progress Log file:

  [09:45:08] Attempting to create the SRS DOB [checking whether SRS is installed].
  [09:45:11]  ScPRQ_ServerIsNotHomeServerForPostmasterOfNonEmptyOrg 
  (K:\admin\src\udog\excommon\prereq.cxx:2683)
             Error code 0X80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
  [09:45:11]  CCompServer::ScCheckPrerequisites 
  (K:\admin\src\udog\exsetdata\components\server\compserver.cxx:1014)
             Error code 0X80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
  [09:45:11]  CComExchSetupComponent::ScCheckPrerequisites 
  (K:\admin\src\udog\BO\comboifaces.cxx:1312)
             Error code 0X80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
  [09:45:11]  CComExchSetupComponent::ScCheckPrerequisites 
  (K:\admin\src\udog\BO\comboifaces.cxx:1312)
             Error code 0X80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
  [09:45:11] === IGNORING PREVIOUS ERRORS === HrSetProblemOnInstallAction, while 
  calling ScCheckPrerequisites (K:\admin\src\udog\BO\comboifaces.cxx:1127)
             The operation has completed successfully.
  [09:45:11] Setup encountered an error while checking prerequisites for the 
  component "Microsoft Exchange 2000":
  0X80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
  [09:45:32] Setup encountered an error while checking prerequisites for the 
  component "Microsoft Exchange 2000":
  0X80072030 (8240): There is no such object on the server.
  

This issue occurs if the following conditions are true:

• You click Remove in the Action list for the Microsoft Exchange top-level component.
• The Exchange Setup program detects existing mailboxes on one or more Exchange Server mailbox stores.

If you want to remove only an Exchange Server component, you must click Change instead of Remove in the Action list for the Microsoft Exchange component.

If you click Remove in the Action list for the Microsoft Exchange component, the Exchange Setup program determines whether any mailboxes exist on the mailbox store.

Note By default, Exchange Server has a Postmaster account. The SMTP address of this account is "postmaster@domain.com." Therefore, even if no user mailboxes remain on the mailbox store, the Postmaster account mailbox may be present.

When you try to remove Exchange Server, the Exchange Setup program determines whether certain prerequisites are met before the Setup program removes Exchange Server. If the Postmaster account mailbox is not present, the Setup program's prerequisite verification is successful.

If the Postmaster account mailbox is present, the prerequisite verification is successful if the following conditions are true:

• The Postmaster account mailbox has a homeMDB attribute that points to the current Exchange server.
• This is the last Exchange server in the organization.

Otherwise, the prerequisite verification is unsuccessful. In this case, the Setup program is unable to remove Exchange Server.

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods, as appropriate for your situation.

Method 1: Remove specific Exchange Server components without removing Exchange Server

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start the Exchange Server Setup program, and then follow the steps in the Microsoft Exchange Installation Wizard to the Component Selection dialog box.
2. In the Action list for the Microsoft Exchange component, click Change.
3. For each Exchange Server component that you want to remove, click Remove in the Action list, and then click Next.
4. Follow the remaining steps in the Microsoft Exchange Installation Wizard to modify the Exchange Server installation.

Method 2: Remove Exchange Server

To remove Exchange Server from the computer, follow these steps.

Step A: Remove all user mailboxes from the mailbox store

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type dsa.msc, and then click OK.
2. In the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, locate the user accounts that have mailboxes that are associated with the instance of Exchange Server that you are trying to remove.
   
   To determine which Exchange server hosts the mailbox that is associated with a particular user account, follow these steps:
   1. Right-click the user account, and then click Properties.
   2. In the UserAccount Properties dialog box, click the Exchange General tab.
   3. In the Mailbox store box, locate the name of the Exchange server, and then click OK.
3. In the Active Directory directory service, remove the Exchange Server attributes for each user who has a mailbox that is hosted on the instance of Exchange Server that you want to remove. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Right-click the user, and then click Exchange Tasks.
      
      Note You can select multiple users in this step.
   2. In the Welcome to the Exchange Task Wizard dialog box, click Next.
   3. In the Available Tasks dialog box, click Remove Exchange Attributes, and then click Next.
      
      Important This step assumes that you want to remove the Exchange Server mailboxes. If you want to move the mailboxes to a different server instead, use the Exchange Move Mailbox Wizard instead of removing the Exchange Server attributes.
   4. In the Remove Exchange Attributes dialog box, review the warning, and then click Next.
   5. In the Completing the Exchange Task Wizard dialog box, click Finish.

Step B: Move the Postmaster mailbox to another server

Use the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) Edit tool to move the Postmaster mailbox to a different Exchange server.

Warning If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, or both Windows and Exchange. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.
Note The ADSI Edit tool is included with the Microsoft Windows Support Tools. To install the Windows Support Tools on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, double-click Setup.exe in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 Server CD.

To install the Windows Support Tools on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, double-click SUPTOOLS.MSI in the Support\Tools folder on the Windows Server 2003 CD.

To move the Postmaster mailbox, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type adsiedit.msc, and then click OK.
2. In the ADSI Edit Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, expand Configuration [servername.domain.com], expand CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=com, expand CN=Services, expand CN=Microsoft Exchange, expand CN=OrganizationName, and then expand CN=Global Settings.
3. Right-click CN=Message Delivery, and then click Properties.
4. In the CN=Message Delivery Properties dialog box, click msExchangeAdminMailbox in the Attributes list, and then click Edit.
5. Note the value that is displayed in the String Attribute Editor dialog box. This value resembles the following value:
   CN=Administrator,CN=Users,DC=domain,DC=com
   This value points to the account with which the Postmaster mailbox is associated.
6. In the Value box, type or paste the LDAP path of a user who has a mailbox that is hosted on a different Exchange server, and then click OK two times.
   
   Note To verify the LDAP path of the destination user, or to determine which Exchange server hosts a particular user's mailbox, follow these steps:
   1. In the ADSI Edit tool, expand Domain [servername,domain.com], expand DC=domain,DC=com, and then click CN=Users.
      
      Note If the particular user account is located in a container other than the Users container, modify this path as appropriate.
   2. Right-click the user account, and then click Properties.
   3. In the CN=username Properties dialog box, click homeMDB in the Attributes list, and then click Edit.
   4. Note the name of the Exchange Server server that appears in the String Attribute Editor dialog box, and then click Cancel.
   5. In the Attributes list, click distinguishedName, and then click Edit. This is the LDAP path of the user.
      
      Paste this path into the Value box of the msExchAdminMailbox attribute to change the location of the Postmaster mailbox.
7. Exit the ADSI Edit tool.