Okay, so I think I've got a bit of a mess here.  After initially trying to install Exchange 2013 RTM, (and set up a DAG), on two Windows 2012 (VMware) servers, I then attempted to install CU9, (which failed),From there, I ended up getting things to the point that I decided that since this is a new production Exchange environment, (all email data still on current Exchange 2007 Server,) I'd just scrap the whole thing and start over from the ground up.

I had everything ready to go again and I just decided to install CU9 right out of the gate, (which is probably what I should have done the first time).  I received an error that Exchange was in an inconsistent state and that I would need to install using the recovery mode:

"Error: Setup previously failed while performing the action "DisasterRecovery". You can't resume stup by performing the action "Install"."

From there, I open a cmd prompt "with admin" and run Setup.exe /Mode:RecoverServer /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

This also failed.  Among the errors in the log file was "An error ocurred while setting shared config DC. Error: The call to Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Topology service on server 'TopologyClientTcpEndpoint (localhost)' returned an error. Error details Active Directory server  is not available. Error message: Active directory response: The supplied credential is invalid.."

It's now to the point that I can't even "uninstall" this failed installation of Exchange 2013 CU9.  I now get "Error: Setup previously failed while performing the action "DisasterRecovery". You can't resume setup by performing the action "Uninstall"."

I'd like to try to not have to start all over with my VM's, (because, to be honest, I don't think I'll get a clean install even after doing this.  I suspect there's something in my AD that's "leftover" from the previous setup.  I made everything the same with my new VM's, (Names, disk, memory, CPU, etc...)

Thinking I may need to open a case with MS on this one.  Any ideas?

• Edited by timahh2 12 hours 21 minutes ago

Thinking I may need to open a case with MS on this one.  Any ideas?

Probably not a bad idea; it might take some dissection of AD to get you going again.  Is restoring AD to a previous point in time an option?

I don't know what the repercussions of doing that would be, but I don't think it's something I want to do.

Understood. I would suggest opening a ticket with MS support then. They should be able to resolve this for you. Whatever the outcome, it's always a plus when community members share their resolutions so others can benefit. Good luck.

Stupid question incoming...did you run /PrepareAD and /PrepareSchema in the same AD site that is running the FSMO roles BEFORE trying to implement CU9?  CU9 will require it unless you are coming from CU7.  Even though in theory it should happen automatically if you have the correct permissions, I ran into an issue, which was resolved by preparing the AD and Schema ahead of time.  Just an idea.  Good luck.

• Edited by slrobb Thursday, July 30, 2015 9:57 PM grammar

Hi timahh2,

Thank you for your question.

We could refer to the following link to delete the former Exchange 2013 server:

1.        run ADsiedit.msc in run, then navigate
2.        Configuration [<domainController>.contoso.com]> CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=com> CN=Services> CN=Microsoft Exchange> CN=<OrganizationName> CN=Administrative Group> CN=Exchange Administrative Group>CN=Server

Notice: we must backup AD database before we modify it.

If the issue persist, we could perform the following steps:

A: Make Exchange 2013 server exist domain

B: Change computer name to another (which is different from the former) and re-join domain

C: install Exchange 2013 to check if the issue persist

If there are any questions regarding this issue, please be free to let me know.

Best Regard,

Jim

Thanks all.  I am still fighting with this.  I have again wiped and restarted with my VM's  I have everything ready to go, have installed the appropriate pre-req's, but my new server still thinks that CAS is still installed.  I suspect this is something that is still lingering in AD\ADSI.

I ran Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

The configuring prereq's check completed, however, the prereq analysys failed with the message:

"The Client Access server role is already installed on this computer.  For more information, visit: http://technet.microsoft.com/library(EXCHG.150)/ms.exch.setupreadiness.CafeRoleAlreadyExists.aspx.

Also, just to reiterate, I have Exchange 2007 running in production, (which I plan to migrate to a Exchange 2013 DAG environment one I can get it configured).  With that said, I can't do a blanket delete of Exchange in ASDI, as outlined here:

http://blog.dargel.at/2012/11/20/complete-remove-exchange-2013-using-adsiedit/

Wow, amazingly, (to me anyway, as I thought for sure I was going to have to open a case with MS), after some more research and persaverance, I managed to figure this out.  As I had thought, (but didn't know what entries I needed to remove), I had to do some specific removal of entries within ADSI.  I pretty much just manually searched and got lucky on this one.

ADSI Entries:

CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=<DomainName>, CN=Administrative Groups, CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYIDIBOHF23SPDLT), CN=Database Availability Groups:  This is where my original install Virtual Node\DAG Name was located.

CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=<DomainName>, CN=Administrative Groups, CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYIDIBOHF23SPDLT), CN=Databases:  This is where an entry of one of my databases was still showing up from my original 2013 install.

CN=Configuration, CN=Services, CN=<DomainName>, CN=Administrative Groups, CN=Exchange Administrative Group (FYIDIBOHF23SPDLT), CN=Servers: This is where one of the Exchange 2013 Nodes was still located from my original install.

Also, (within ADSI), I deleted the Exchange 2013 system user entries that I found in several articles, but referenced in my previous thread, under: Default naming context, DC=<Domain Name>, CN=Users:

DiscoverySearchMailbox{GUID}, FederatedEmail{GUID}, Migration{GUID}, SystemMailbox{GUID}, and HealthMailbox{GUID}

http://blog.dargel.at/2012/11/20/complete-remove-exchange-2013-using-adsiedit/

After doing all of this, along with having all my pre-req's in order, I ran the following 3 commands:

Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Setup.exe /PrepareAD /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
Setup.exe (Right click and "Run as Administrator")

...and voila, Exchange 2013 CU9 installed without any errors. 

It's now on to Node 2, then DAG setup, and hopefully a successful migration. 

Thanks all.

• Marked as answer by timahh2 13 hours 17 minutes ago