Hello, I am installing Exch 2010 on a 2008R2 Server. We have one other win 2008R2 server and our current windows 2003 Exchange server running on Windows 2000. When I run the readiness check, I get the following error: the forest functional level of the current active directory forest is not windows 2003 native or later. The forest functional level must be windows 2003 or later. Also Warning - Setup is going to prepare the organization for Exchange 2010 by using Setup /PreppreAD. No Exchange 2007 server roles have been detected in this topology. After this operation you will not be able to install any Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 servers. My question is, will my live Exchange 2003/Windows 2000 server suffer any implications from doing this install on the domain? Will I suffer any exchange issues or other issues with this file/exchange server? Thanks for your assistance in advance. TJ

This is the 2013 forum. Mods - please move. In terms of your question, if the OS for the Exchange 2003 server is really windows 2000 then that could be an issue as Windows 2000 is out of support, and has been for 3 years now. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=windows+2000&Filter=FilterNO Will it work, probably but the *ONLY* way to be sure is to test in a lab. Take a look at this post and sign up for the support lifecycle notifications http://blogs.technet.com/b/rmilne/archive/2013/01/04/end-of-exchange-2010-sp1-support.aspx And yes the AD function level must be at least windows 2003 native. Cheers, Rhoderick Microsoft Senior Exchange PFE Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/rmilne  Twitter:   LinkedIn:   Facebook:   XING: Note: Posts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

My bad....it is Windows 2003 Server. So, with that being so, will I have any issues with the above error and problems with my Exchange 2003 live env.

This is the 2013 forum. Mods - please move. In terms of your question, if the OS for the Exchange 2003 server is really windows 2000 then that could be an issue as Windows 2000 is out of support, and has been for 3 years now. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=windows+2000&Filter=FilterNO Will it work, probably but the *ONLY* way to be sure is to test in a lab. Take a look at this post and sign up for the support lifecycle notifications http://blogs.technet.com/b/rmilne/archive/2013/01/04/end-of-exchange-2010-sp1-support.aspx And yes the AD function level must be at least windows 2003 native. Cheers, Rhoderick Microsoft Senior Exchange PFE Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/rmilne  Twitter:   LinkedIn:   Facebook:   XING: Note: Posts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Hello, This is the Exchange 2013 forum. Do you mean you upgrade exchange 2003 to exchange 2010? If so, please refer to the following article to do it. Upgrade Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 https://www.simple-talk.com/sysadmin/exchange/upgrade-exchange-2003-to-exchange-2010/ After you install exchange 2010, you can't install exchange 2007/2003 in the same organisation. And you can only install exchange 2010 in the existing exchange 2003/2007 organisation. If you have any feedback on our support, please click here Cara Chen TechNet Community Support

Hello, This is the Exchange 2013 forum. Do you mean you upgrade exchange 2003 to exchange 2010? If so, please refer to the following article to do it. Upgrade Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 https://www.simple-talk.com/sysadmin/exchange/upgrade-exchange-2003-to-exchange-2010/ After you install exchange 2010, you can't install exchange 2007/2003 in the same organisation. And you can only install exchange 2010 in the existing exchange 2003/2007 organisation. If you have any feedback on our support, please click here Cara Chen TechNet Community Support

I would not expect anything specific over and above the normal migration issues. For the changing the domain function level, that should be fine. Cheers, Rhoderick Microsoft Senior Exchange PFE Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/rmilne  Twitter:   LinkedIn:   Facebook:   XING: Note: Posts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

Hello, This is the Exchange 2013 forum. Do you mean you upgrade exchange 2003 to exchange 2010? If so, please refer to the following article to do it. Upgrade Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 https://www.simple-talk.com/sysadmin/exchange/upgrade-exchange-2003-to-exchange-2010/ After you install exchange 2010, you can't install exchange 2007/2003 in the same organisation. And you can only install exchange 2010 in the existing exchange 2003/2007 organisation. If you have any feedback on our support, please click here Cara Chen TechNet Community Support Since he already has Exchange 2003 installed he can continue to deploy more of that if needed (hopefully not). But yes, then installing the first Exchange 2007 server after 2010 was installed is not supported. Cheers, Rhoderick Microsoft Senior Exchange PFE Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/rmilne  Twitter:   LinkedIn:   Facebook:   XING: Note: Posts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.