Setup incorrectly creates an additional administrative group when you install Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 in a pure Exchange Server 5.5 site

When you install Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server or Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in a Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 site, the Exchange Server Setup program does not install the Exchange 2000 Server computer or the Exchange Server 2003 computer in the Exchange 5.5 site that you selected.

Instead, you experience both of the following symptoms:

• The Exchange Server Setup program incorrectly creates an additional administrative group that has the same name as the Exchange Server 5.5 site display name.
• The Exchange Server Setup program installs the Exchange 2000 Server computer or the Exchange Server 2003 computer as the only member of this new administrative group.

This problem occurs if all the following conditions are true:

• You have a mixed-mode Exchange organization that contains both of the following sites or administrative groups:
  • A pure Exchange Server 5.5 site.
  • A mixed Exchange Server 5.5 site that contains both Exchange Server 5.5 computers and Exchange 2000 Server computers or that contains both Exchange Server 5.5 computers and Exchange Server 2003 computers.
• The site display name is changed in the pure Exchange Server 5.5 site.
• You install the first Exchange 2000 Server computer or the first Exchange Server 2003 computer in the pure Exchange Server 5.5 site.

This problem occurs because the Setup program does not recognize that the renamed Exchange Server 5.5 site is already represented by a matching object in the Active Directory directory service. In this scenario, the Setup program configures two administrative groups that represent the same Exchange Server 5.5 object. Additionally, these two administrative groups have the same legacyExchangeDN attribute in Active Directory.

In this scenario, the Exchange Server 5.5 site display name that is first replicated to Active Directory is the display name that appears in Exchange System Manager after you install Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003. To restate this, after your configuration connection agreement (Config_CA) replicates the site display name to Active Directory, this display name always appears in Exchange System Manager, even if you later change it.

In the Exchange 2000 Server Setup program and in the Exchange Server 2003 Setup program, you can select the site where you want to install Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 by using the site display name that appears in Active Directory. However, Setup actually uses the display name that currently appears on the Exchange Server 5.5 site. If the display name that currently appears on the Exchange Server 5.5 site differs from the site name that appears in Active Directory, the Setup program does the following:

1. Setup creates a new administrative group that uses the current Exchange Server 5.5 site's display name.
2. Setup installs the Exchange 2000 Server computer or Exchange Server 2003 computer as the only member of this administrative group.

To work around this problem, remove Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003, modify the Exchange Server 5.5 site display name to match the Exchange Server 5.5 directory name, and then reinstall Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003. To modify the Exchange Server 5.5 display name, follow these steps:

1. Start the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program. To do this, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click Microsoft Exchange Administrator.
2. Click your site.
3. On the File menu, click Properties.
4. In the Display name box, type the name that appears in the Directory name box, and then click OK.
5. Wait sufficient time for this information to replicate to Active Directory.
6. Start the Exchange 2000 Server Setup program or the Exchange Server 2003 Setup program to install Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003.
7. After Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003 is installed successfully, follow steps 1 through 4 to restore your Exchange Server 5.5 site display name to its previous name.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

After you rename the Exchange Server 5.5 site in step 7 of the "Resolution" section, the display name information is not updated when you view the corresponding administrative group by using Exchange System Manager. However, this does not affect mail flow or Exchange administration operations. Even if the display names are different, the administrative group object that appears in Exchange System Manager and the site object that appears in the Microsoft Exchange Administrator program have the same legacyExchangeDN attribute in Active Directory. After you remove the last Exchange Server 5.5 computer from your organization and configure Exchange Server to run in native mode, you can rename the administrative group in Exchange System Manager.

Note You can only rename an administrative group if Exchange Server is running in native mode.

For more information about how to run Exchange Server in native mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: