I am frustrated with Exchange 2007. I deploy exchange 2007 in a production environment with exchange 2003. For some reason, the few exchange 2007 accounts I created couldn't get to send mail after a period of time. Now I I am trying to uninstallExchange 2007 and it has turn into a complete nightmare. I managed to uninstall the other roles, but the hub transport role won't uninstall. I get the error message "Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation." I have been on this and I am frustrated. I deleted the routing group connector, but to no avail. Can someone please help? I am having a second thought of rolling my messaging over to Exchange 2007. Help me out here please.... Here is the event log error message: Event Type:ErrorEvent Source:MSExchange CommonEvent Category:General Event ID:4999Date:10/23/2008Time:12:06:23 PMUser:N/AComputer:ALPHADescription:Watson report about to be sent to dw20.exe for process id: 3448, with parameters: E12, c-RTL-AMD64, 08.01.0291.001, exsetupui, M.E.Diagnostics, M.E.D.A.EventSourceInstaller.UninstallSecurityEventSource, System.UnauthorizedAccessException, c119, 08.01.0291.001. ErrorReportingEnabled: False For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Hi, see if you have missed any step while removing Routing Group Connectors.If you have Exchange 2003 servers installed, then Exchange 2007 doesn't natively use routing groups, but will create them for backward-compatibility purposes. To eliminate necessary routing group connectors: Go to your Exchange 2003 server and open the Exchange System Manager. Navigate through the console tree to Administrative Groups -> your administrative group -> Routing groups -> your routing group -> Connectors. Select the Connectors container and the details pane will show you connectors for the routing group. The actual connectors that exist will differ from one deployment to another. Typically, there will be an Internet Mail SMTP connector and a routing group connector. Right click on the routing group connector, and select Properties from the menu. Go to the Remote Bridgehead tab, and check that the remote bridgehead server listed is one from which you want to remove the Hub Transport server role. If so, you can do one of two things: Point the connector to a different remote bridgehead server. Remove the connector completely. To remove the routing group connector, click OK to close the connector's properties sheet. Right click on the connector and select Delete from the menu. When Exchange asks if you really want to delete the connector, click Yes. There likely will be at least one more connector to delete. Although Exchange 2007 doesn't natively use administrative groups, it does create an administrative group for backward-compatibility purposes. This group contains its own routing group, which contains a connector. The name of this administrative group differs in each Exchange organization. By default, it is called the Exchange Administrative Group. A long hexadecimal number in parenthesis should follow the words Exchange Administrative Group. It will also follow the default routing group within this administrative group. It is called the Exchange Routing Group, and will be followed by a long hexadecimal number in parenthesis. To remove the associated routing group connector: Navigate through the console tree to Administrative Groups -> Exchange Administrative Group (long hexadecimal number) -> Routing groups -> Exchange Routing Group (long hexadecimal number) -> Connectors. Select the Connectors container, and the details pane will display a routing group connector. Right click on the routing group connector, and choose Properties from the menu. You will see a message informing you that you need a newer version of Exchange System Manager to edit the object. Click OK to ignore the message and go to the routing group's properties sheet. Look at the Remote Bridgehead tab. Because this routing group connector exists on an Exchange 2007 server, the remote bridgehead should point to a server in your 2003 routing group. Verify this and click OK to close the properties sheet. Right click on the routing group connector and choose Delete from the menu. Click Yes, when prompted, to remove the connector. Wait for the servers to synchronize with one another. Then go back to your Exchange 2007 server and try to remove the Hub Transport role. The server should now pass the prerequisite test. Once the readiness check is complete, click Uninstall to remove the Hub Transport role.RefrencePart 4: How to uninstall the Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server role

I have removed all the connectors and the routing groups, but I still get the "attempted to perform the unauthorized operation" error message. Is this something that has to do with some permission on the local server or what?

Hi, Please check the setuplog file for more detailed information: Exchange 2007 setup logs and how to use them to troubleshoot setup http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/05/07/438433.aspx You can also post the setup log information here. Mike

I am not sure what I need to do with the setup log files Mike. I am trying to uninstall Exchange 2007, but I am unable to get the hub transport to uninstall. The error message I get is "Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation." And that's all I get, can't go beyond that. I need help uninstalling Exchange 2007 from my production environment which is already running Exchange 2003. Thanks for your help. Eugene

Hi, The uninstall process is also recorded in the setup log file. For example: [10/28/2008 3:55:03 PM] [0] Operating System version: Microsoft Windows NT 5.2.3790 Service Pack 2. [10/28/2008 3:55:03 PM] [0] Setup version: 8.1.240.6. [10/28/2008 3:55:03 PM] [0] Logged on user: LAB\Administrator. [10/28/2008 3:55:04 PM] [0] Command Line Parameter Name='mode', Value='Uninstall'. [10/28/2008 3:55:04 PM] [0] ExSetupUI was started with the following command: '-mode:uninstall'. Mike