XADM: Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 Setup fails with error 0xC0070035

Setup of Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2000 fails, and you receive one of the following messages: -or- At the end of the Exchange Server Setup Progress.log file, you may see the following error message repeated multiple times:

These errors have multiple causes. This article describes one common problem that is associated with these errors: installing Exchange in an Active Directory forest that has multiple trees. Hosts that must be contacted during the installation process, such as other Exchange servers and domain controllers, may not be found through the DNS suffix search list. You cannot rule out this problem even if you can ping all hosts from the installing server. The ping may succeed by using name resolution methods such as NetBIOS or a local Hosts file.

These resolution methods do not help because Setup must find certain Service (SRV) records in DNS to succeed. Therefore, many of the name resolution workarounds that you used in the past do not help. As an example of what a multi-tree forest involves, suppose you have installed the first domain controller in an Active Directory forest with the DNS domain name corp.com. Then, you install a child domain that is named headquarters.corp.com, and then you install another domain that in named field.corp.com. All these domains are part of the corp.com DNS hierarchy. However, you install a fourth domain that is named engineering.com. Engineering.com is a peer of corp.com.

Therefore, engineering.com is disjoint with all the other domains regarding the DNS naming hierarchy. Although it is true that both engineering.com and corp.com are in the com domain, they are still treated as peers at the top of their respective hierarchies for the purposes of name resolution.

Change the DNS suffix search list on the installing computer to include the domain names of all domains in the Active Directory forest.

DNS search suffixes are the domain suffixes that are automatically appended when a search for a hostname fails. For example, if you try to connect to SERVER1, and Windows cannot directly resolve SERVER1, suffixes are appended, and names such as SERVER1.corp.com or SERVER1.headquarters.corp.com are tried.

You can view the list of active search suffixes on your computer by using the ipconfig /all command to see the DNS Suffix Search List. By default, the primary DNS suffix and the connection-specific DNS suffix are in this list. The primary suffix is generally the one that you see on the Network Identification page of the System Properties of the computer. The connection-specific suffix is typically but not necessarily the same, and it is frequently assigned by a DHCP server.

The suffixes on this list are tried. By default, parent domains of each suffix are also tried. For example, if you were trying to resolve SERVER1, and your suffix list included the following suffix: the actual names that DNS tries for name resolution are as follows:

• SERVER1.domain1.headquarters.corp.com
• SERVER1.headquarters.corp.com
• SERVER1.corp.com

The suffix search stops at corp.com, and will not try SERVER1.com.

If you typically interact with hosts in DNS namespaces with multiple roots, you can explicitly control the suffix search list on your computer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Settings, and then double-click Network and Dial-up Connections.
2. Right-click the connection that you want to change, and then click Properties. Typically, this is the Local Area Connection.
3. On the General tab, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Advanced.
4. On the DNS tab, click Append these DNS Suffixes.
5. For each suffix that you want to append, click the Add button, type each suffix in the Domain suffix box, and then click Add.

Note Only the suffixes that you type are used. Parent suffixes are no longer tried. You must type all parent suffixes that you still want to use. This behavior gives you exact manual control over both the order and suffixes that are used.

In Microsoft Windows 2000, these changes take effect immediately after you save them.

You must restart Exchange 2000 Setup if the errors that you received occurred when you tried to pick the type of Exchange installation such as Typical and Custom. Such errors are named "pre-requisite check" errors, and the pre-requisite check results can only be reset by restarting Setup.

If errors occur in Setup after the prerequisite check, you can typically click Retry, and then finish the current installation after you correct the name resolution problems.

This behavior is by design.