Can anybody confirm if Exchange 2013 supports uninstallation of specific roles, i have tried running:

"Setup /Mode:Uninstall /Roles:ClientAccess /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms"

however that returns the following error:

"

Welcome to Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Unattended Setup
The parameter 'roles' is not valid for current operation 'Uninstall'.
Setup checks failed: Invalid command line arguments.

Please type 'setup.exe /help' for more information.

"

Despite "setup /help:uninstall" listing the following as an example:

"

Exchange Server Installation Usage:

    Setup /Mode:Install /Roles:<roles to install> [<OptionalParameters>]
      /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
    Setup /Mode:Uninstall /Roles:<roles to uninstall>
      /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
    Setup /Mode:Upgrade /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

"

These two statements seem to dispute each other.

• Edited by Adebe Monday, November 12, 2012 11:56 AM

Actually this is a know issue, it's in the Release Notes http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj150489(v=exchg.150).aspx

"The Setup command line help indicates that you can use the Roles parameter when you uninstall Exchange 2013 using the Uninstall Setup mode. This is incorrect. The Roles parameter isnt supported when using the Uninstall Setup mode. When you uninstall Exchange 2013, all server roles are uninstalled from the computer. Uninstalling individual roles isnt supported."

So how are we supposed to uninstall the client access role? I no longer want clients accessing the mailbox server directly.

So how are we supposed to uninstall the client access role? I no longer want clients accessing the mailbox server directly.

You can't remove a single role, the workaround is to remove Exchange 2013 and then reinstall the Mailbox role. This of course doesn't work if this is your only server.

Big Sigh .... :(

As part of the First exchange 2013 install, I had to install CAS/Mailbox on the first exchange 2013 box as we won't be able to manage exchange 2013 if the mailbox role is not installed

Now that I have deployed DAG and moved all the mailboxes (arbitration/system) to DAG, I don't need my CAS server to serve as mailbox role anymore. I was hoping that there's a way to uninstall the mailbox server role and let my CAS be a CAS only.

Well I guess it does't matter as I have deleted my database on my first exchange box. I do hope one day to clean it up and be able to uninstall the mailbox role.

Remove the CAS from the load balancer pool, uninstall Exchange 2013 and reinstall Exchange 2013 with the CAS role. Shoul'dn't take more than an hour or so.

By the way, what is the reason you don't deploy both roles on the same server? That was the recommendation with Exchange 2010 and still is for Exchange 2013.

 This of course doesn't work if this is your on