I have a single Exchange 2003 Server(On Windows Server 2003) I need to decommission. As I uninstall Exchange I get the error message "The component"Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Services" cannot be assigned the action " Remove" because: -One or more users currently use a mailbox store on this server. These users must be moved to a mailbox store on a different server or be mail disabled before uninstalling. The only mailboxes left are systemattendant's so why am I getting this message. Should I delete this mailbox in order to complete the uninstall? When decommissioning what other tasks do I need to complete?

This can occur for multiple reasons: 1. There was a user in which the mailbox was never created because it was not activated ie. user never logged in or no mail was sent to it. 2. There is a user who has Exchange attributes but no mailbox referencing this server. Resolution: 1. Start ADUC; click find. 2. Click custom search in drop down 3. Click Advanced tab 4. In LDAP field type: (msExchHomeServerName=/O=myexchangeorgname/ OU=myorgname/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=myexchangeserver) (objectClass=User) Substitue o=myexchangeorgname and OU=myorgname and cn=myexchangeserver with your values. To find these values you can open adsiedit and go to the properties of a user and find the msexchhomeservername property. One thing to note; if the query comes back with no results; copy the query into notepad. Close out the ADUC search and re-open it and paste the search query. I've noticed that the query does not work when pasting even though you remove all spaces unless you restart ADUC search. James Chong MCITP | EA | EMA; MCSE | M+, S+ Security+, Project+, ITIL msexchangetips.blogspot.com

This can occur for multiple reasons: 1. There was a user in which the mailbox was never created because it was not activated ie. user never logged in or no mail was sent to it. 2. There is a user who has Exchange attributes but no mailbox referencing this server. Resolution: 1. Start ADUC; click find. 2. Click custom search in drop down 3. Click Advanced tab 4. In LDAP field type: (msExchHomeServerName=/O=myexchangeorgname/ OU=myorgname/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=myexchangeserver) (objectClass=User) Substitue o=myexchangeorgname and OU=myorgname and cn=myexchangeserver with your values. To find these values you can open adsiedit and go to the properties of a user and find the msexchhomeservername property. One thing to note; if the query comes back with no results; copy the query into notepad. Close out the ADUC search and re-open it and paste the search query. I've noticed that the query does not work when pasting even though you remove all spaces unless you restart ADUC search. James Chong MCITP | EA | EMA; MCSE | M+, S+ Security+, Project+, ITIL msexchangetips.blogspot.com

Hi You can try this KB about your issue. Error message when you try to remove Exchange Server from a mailbox server that no longer hosts mailboxes: "One or more users currently use a mailbox store on this server" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924170 TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com Terence Yu TechNet Community Support

Hi Do you have anything update on your issue ?Terence Yu TechNet Community Support