This step by step guide will show you how to install exchange server 2013 on a your Domain Controller. The same steps will work for an installation on a non Domain Controller server but I have done it on a single server in a lab environment for testing purposes so I will show you the same way I have done it making my Exchange virtual server.
Firstly I have a Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller that I am installing this on. Follow these steps if you need to install Windows Server 2012. Also there are some on active directory here.
Exchange 2013 is also able to be installed on Windows Server 2008 R2, if you have a previous version of Windows Server then you will need to get a newer version to use Exchange Server 2013.
Now you will need to insert the installation media that came with your Exchange Server 2013 purchase, if you are just testing it out there is a free version available here for testing purposes that is valid for 180 days.
Preparing Schema for Exchange Server
Make sure you are logged in as a user with domain admin rights.
Launch a power shell session
Change the directory to the drive letter for the installation media
Run the following command to prepare the Active Directory Schema(Make sure you don’t forget the ‘.’ in front of the command):
.\setup /prepareschema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Once it is finished successfully you will get a message saying “The Exchange Server setup operation completed successfully” the Schema value will now be set to 15137.
Prepare Active Directory for Exchange 2013
Run the following command to prepare the Active Directory(Once again make sure you don’t forget the ‘.’ in front of the command):
.\setup /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:YourName /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Once the Exchange Server 2013 setup operation has completed successfully it will set the organisation objectVersion value to 15449.
NOTE: This will create the required Exchange containers in Active Directory and call it YourName. Please replace “YourName” with an appropriate name for your organisation.
Prepare Domain for Exchange 2013
Run the following command to prepare the domain:
.\setup /PrepareDomain /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Once the Exchange Server setup operation has completed successfully, it will set the Microsoft Exchange System Object objectVersion value to 13236.
Install pre-requisites for an Exchange 2013 mailbox and client access server roles
Launch PowerShell from within your newly created Active Directory server and run the following PowerShell Script:
Install-WindowsFeature AS-HTTP-Activation, Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework-45-Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation
This will install and enable all the necessary roles and features from within Windows Server.
Upon a successful completion of the command you will receive the following details:
You may receive a warning saying you need to reboot the server: “WARNING: You must restart this server to finish the installation process”
If this happens, reboot the server so the roles and features are properly installed and will all be running.
Updating
Now check for updates, install them and reboot the server if it asks you to.
Then you will need to download the following from Microsoft and install in the order listed.
- Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 Core Runtime 64 bit
- Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Pack 64 bit
- Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Pack SP1 64 bit
Running the Exchange Server 2013 Setup
Run the setup from the installation media and follow through the wizard
When you get to the Role Selection for Exchange Server make sure that both Client Access and Mailbox Role are both checked.
It will then ask you to put select a path for the database files to live on, I recommend using a separate partition from the boot partition for the Exchange data to be stored on.
Accessing the new ECP (Exchange Control Panel)
EMC (Exchange Management Console) has now been replaced with ECP(Exchange Control Panel) which is a web based management portal. To access the ECP open your browser window on the server and type in:
http://localhost/ecp/
Or you can also browse to it through any other computer on the network by replacing localhost with your servers hostname.
So that’s it how to install Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, I hope this has helped you. If you have ran into any problems please post them in the comment section below.
