Hope someone could help me to solve this. I tried to load a Service Pack 3 for an Exchange 2007 on a 2008 Server. There was a fatal error during the installation (please refer to the log below). So I did a restoration from a Full backup I made prior to the update. After restoring and restarting the server, OWA is messed up. I have to type in the full URL https://mail.domain.com/owa instead of https://mail.domain.com to get into owa, and the OWA webpage is loaded in a plain text mode without proper logo or background etc. Hope anyone could help me how to solve this. Log is below. 11/21/2010 11:07:24 PM] [0] Setup will run the task 'Start-MidFileCopy' [11/21/2010 11:07:24 PM] [1] Setup launched task 'Start-MidFileCopy -PreviousVersion '8.2.176.2' -Mode 'BuildToBuildUpgrade' -Roles 'BridgeheadRole','ClientAccessRole','MailboxRole','AdminToolsRole'' [11/21/2010 11:07:24 PM] [1] Beginning processing. [11/21/2010 11:07:24 PM] [1] Loaded component 'All Roles MidFileCopy' with 1 task info blocks from 'res://AllRolesMidFileCopyComponent.xml' [11/21/2010 11:07:25 PM] [1] Loaded component 'Bridgehead MidFileCopy' with 1 task info blocks from 'res://BridgeheadMidFileCopyComponent.xml' [11/21/2010 11:07:25 PM] [1] Loaded component 'Client Access MidFileCopy' with 1 task info blocks from 'res://ClientAccessMidFileCopyComponent.xml' [11/21/2010 11:07:25 PM] [1] Loaded component 'Mailbox MidFileCopy' with 1 task info blocks from 'res://MailboxMidFileCopyComponent.xml' [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Loaded component 'Admin Tools MidFileCopy' with 1 task info blocks from 'res://AdminToolsMidFileCopyComponent.xml' [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Writing informational script to 'C:\ExchangeSetupLogs\Start-MidFileCopy-20101121-2307260211.ps1' [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RoleInstallationMode = "BuildToBuildUpgrade"', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RoleInstallationMode = "BuildToBuildUpgrade"'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RoleIsClusterOperation = $False', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RoleIsClusterOperation = $False'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RolePreviousVersion = "8.2.176.2"', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RolePreviousVersion = "8.2.176.2"'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RoleRoles = "BridgeheadRole,ClientAccessRole,MailboxRole,AdminToolsRole"', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RoleRoles = "BridgeheadRole,ClientAccessRole,MailboxRole,AdminToolsRole"'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RoleTargetVersion = "8.3.83.6"', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RoleTargetVersion = "8.3.83.6"'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RoleInvocationID = "20101121-2307260211"', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RoleInvocationID = "20101121-2307260211"'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing '$RoleProductPlatform = "amd64"', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); $RoleProductPlatform = "amd64"'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Found 1 tasks to execute [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Processing component 'All Roles MidFileCopy' (Preparing files for all roles). [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Processing component 'Bridgehead MidFileCopy' (Preparing Files for Hub Transport). [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Executing 'if(test-path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\BridgeheadRole') { move-item -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\BridgeheadRole' -destination 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\HubTransportRole'; }', handleError = False [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [2] Launching sub-task '$error.Clear(); if(test-path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\BridgeheadRole') { move-item -path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\BridgeheadRole' -destination 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\v8.0\HubTransportRole'; }'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Processing component 'Client Access MidFileCopy' (Preparing files for Client Access). [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Processing component 'Mailbox MidFileCopy' (Preparing Files for Mailbox). [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Processing component 'Admin Tools MidFileCopy' (Preparing files for Exchange Management Tools). [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Finished executing component tasks. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Ending processing. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [0] ************** [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [0] Setup will run the task 'install-msipackage' [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Setup launched task 'install-msipackage -logfile 'C:\ExchangeSetupLogs\ExchangeSetup.msilog' -targetdirectory 'D:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server' -features 'Bridgehead','ClientAccess','Mailbox','AdminTools' -packagepath 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sp3\exchangeserver.msi' -updatesdir 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sp3\Updates' -PropertyValues 'DISABLEERRORREPORTING=1 PRODUCTLANGUAGELCID=1033 DEFAULTLANGUAGENAME=ENU DEFAULTLANGUAGELCID=1033 INSTALLCOMMENT="Installed language for this product: English (United States)"'' [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] Beginning processing. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] ProductCode is '24b2c164-de66-44fe-b468-a46d9d5e6b31'. [11/21/2010 11:07:26 PM] [1] PackagePath was set to 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sp3\exchangeserver.msi'; normalizing to 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sp3\exchangeserver.msi'. [11/21/2010 11:07:27 PM] [1] ProductCode is '24b2c164-de66-44fe-b468-a46d9d5e6b31'. [11/21/2010 11:07:27 PM] [1] Installing MSI package 'C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sp3\exchangeserver.msi'. [11/21/2010 11:10:57 PM] [1] [ERROR] Unexpected Error [11/21/2010 11:10:57 PM] [1] [ERROR] Installing product C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\sp3\exchangeserver.msi failed. Fatal error during installation. Error code is 1603. [11/21/2010 11:10:57 PM] [1] [ERROR] Fatal error during installation [11/21/2010 11:10:57 PM] [1] Ending processing. [11/21/2010 11:11:27 PM] [0] End of Setup [11/21/2010 11:11:27 PM] [0] ********************************************** This is a result when I ran a Test-OwaConnectivity cmdlet [PS] C:\Windows\System32>Test-OwaConnectivity WARNING: Test user 'CAS_567ea5b3069b426e' cannot be accessed. Therefore, this cmdlet will be unable to test Mailbox server 'Server.domain.local'. Test-OwaConnectivity : Could not find or log on with user domain.local\CAS_567 ea5b3069b426e. If this task is being run without credentials, log on as a Domain Administrator, and then run the new-TestCasConnectivityUser.ps1 to verify that the user exists on Mailbox server Server.domain.local At line:1 char:20 + Test-OwaConnectivity <<<< WARNING: No Client Access servers were tested. I'm logged in a Domain Administrator, I don't know why user "CAS_567 ea5b3069b426e" is in here.

The default behaviour is to require the /owa part of the URL. Therefore you have made a change to the configuration of IIS which has been undone. You will need to put that back. That is not something that Exchange does. The error log doesn't really explain what the problem is. 1603 is very generic. This is one example of the kind of problems that cause the error: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/834484 How exactly did you do the restore? It isn't clear what you mean by a full backup. That can mean different things to different people. test-owaconnectivity doesn't use your own account, it uses a special test account which needs to be created by the script. You obvious don't have that account. I would suggest that you start by running the best practises analyzer from the Toolbox. That may well flag where the problems are. I suspect that you have one of the virtual directories configured incorrectly. If that is the case, removing them with remove-owavirtualdirectory and recreating them with new-owavirtualdirectory may well resolve it. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources

Thanks Simon, for your help. I did remove and recreate a new-owavirtualdirectory. Everything seems back to the way it was. Except I have to type in the full URL https://mail.domain.com/owa instead of https://mail.domain.com . I checked the settings in IIS7 for HTTP REDIRECT and ERROR PAGES, and all the settings are the same as before... I will have to restart the server later see if it will fix the issue. In regard to the Service Pack 3. I couldn't get this patch to install. I tried 3 times and ended up at the same point. Any helps are appreciated. Thanks Simon once again.

To fix your /owa issue, you can probably just put a simple redirect from the top-level to the /owa directory, though I've not tried to do this myself. Regarding SP3, did you read the installation requirements? e.g. preparing ActiveDirectory before installing, what servers to update in what order, removing Forefront (if installed) before installing SP3, and so on? http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607233(EXCHG.80).aspx

Hi JonDg, About How to simplify the Outlook Web Access URL,please see: How to Simplify the Outlook Web Access URL http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998359(EXCHG.80).aspx About SP3, please check the installation requirements as Frosty said first. And is there any error message in the ExchangeSetup.msilog file? Frank Wang

Frosty and Frank. Thanks for all the helps. It tried and did whatever I could possibly find resources online but it was still messed up. So I did another full restoration of my Server box, and this time I selected overwrite the existing files..... everything is back to normal now. I will stay away from that service pack 3 as it caused me too much grief. Thanks again for all the recommendations. I'm very appreciated.