I want to pre-install Exchange 2010 on a new server in my shop prior to deploying it at my customer's location. By installing at my shop, can download and install all SP's, upgrades, etc. and not wait for them to download and install while at my customer's location. I can save significant time by bringing a prepared box to the site rather than installing and upgrading on site. What issues will I face beyond the AD/Forest prep necessary for installing 2010 in a 2003 environment? Should I install as a member server then dcpromo once on site? Will there be issues with server roles? DNS? I've installed all versions of Exchange except 2010.

NO...I wouldn't do it... Exchange 2010 installation takes barely one hour to complete (varies on hardware config) I don;t see that you will be saving significant time in it! Gulab | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2010 | MCTS-MCITP Messaging: 2007 | MCC 2011 | Skype: Gulab.Mallah

Hi Cruzan, Well the server will need to be a member server before you can install Exchange 2010 on it. Besides this the current active directory needs to be prepped for Exchange 2010. Read this documentation before starting: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff805040.aspx Regards, JohanExchange-blog: www.johanveldhuis.nl

Hi, Your Exchange 2010 server have to be a member server of 2003 AD. Before you intall Exchange 2010, it is necessary to run setup /PrepareAD This command perform the following tasks: If this is a new organization, creates the Microsoft Exchange System Objects container in the root domain partition in Active Directory and sets permissions on this container for the Exchange Servers, Exchange Organization Administrators, and Authenticated Users groups. This container is used to store public folder proxy objects and Exchange-related system objects, such as the mailbox database's mailbox. reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125224.aspx