I installed Exchange 2013 CU8 on two 2012 R2 machines, but the services that run under Network Service for Exchange won't start. If I put Network Service in the local admin group, the services start. Prior to putting it in the admin group, I gave it full permission on all Exchange folders, but that didn't help...thanks.

I installed Exchange 2013 CU8 on two 2012 R2 machines, but the services that run under Network Service for Exchange won't start. If I put Network Service in the local admin group, the services start. Prior to putting it in the admin group, I gave it full permission on all Exchange folders, but that didn't help...thanks.

Did you strip any rights away from the network service account?

Hi,

Please run setup.com /preparedomain and see if the permission are set to default and the issue persists.

Please add Read permission for NT AUTHORITY\Network Service to all Exchange servers in ADSIEdit to have a try:
Expand CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=.com > CN=Services > CN=Microsoft Exchange > CN=Domain > CN= Administrative Groups > CN=(Group name) > CN=Servers. Right-click all Exchange service, and add Read permission for NT AUTHORITY\Network Service account.

Regards,