when trying to install exchange 07 standard it fails at the hub transport role. Error: could not find the default Administrative Group 'Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)'. We have an exchange 2k3 server running on a different machine with no problems. This is a clean install of Server 2003 R2 64bit Standard and then Exchange 2007 64bit Standard. I was running the install as the domain administrator account. I have no ideas where to proceed from here.

Did you run all the required prep's? For co-existance with exchange 2003 you need to have run /preparelegacyexchange as well as all the other preps, in exchange 2007 you no longer run only forest prep & domain prep, you need to prep schema, prepare active directory, prepare domain as well, if i remember them correctly.

The preps have all been run. It saying that it cannot find an administrative group that does not exist. The only administrative group that is on my exchange 2k3 server is the First Administrative Group. Why is the exchange 2k7 asking for an admin group that does not exist?WhereshouldIsearch in AD for it and remove it if that is the problem?

You need to install the support tools from the Windows Installation CD (CD1 for R2 install) then run adsiedit.msc Then Navigate to: (where domain.local = the name of your AD Domain) Configuration > cn=configuration,dc=domain,dc=local > cn=Services > cn=Microsoft Exchange > cn=ExchangeOrganizationName > cn=Administrative Groups (DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING FROM HERE UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING) The admin group that Setup is looking for should be listed there if all the preperations were successful - try connecting to each of your DC's and verifying its presence (or lack of). If it appears on one DC but not another then you need to run add the /dc:domaincontroller to the end of the command line setup for Exchange installation to run. Note: If the Admin Group exists on one DC & not another, you should troubleshoot & resolve AD replication issues before installing E2k7. If its not there then I think you possibly may have skipped one of your preperations. (perhaps preparelegacyexchange / preparead ?) On another note, since you are co-existing with legacy exchange, you need to suppress link state propogation on all your E2k3 Servers. (this will not cause this issue but is recommended for co-existance since E2k7 doesnt understand / propegate linkstat any more.)

If you are getting this error message, you need to completely remove Exchange 2007 and then run all of the preps from a command line:setup /prepareschemasetup /preparedomainsetup /preparelegacyexchangepermissionssetup /preparead (this is the one that actually creates the Exchange Administrative Group)setup.com is found in the root of the E2K7 DVDIn order to run these you need to have the appropriate permissions. Make sure you have Schema Admin and Enterprise Admin permissions.After you have finished these steps, rerun setup.exe or click the install link from the DVD autorun.

Thank you for this- I deleted the administrative group, not knowing this was a no-no (went into esm 2003, said, ick, I don't want that name, I'll recreate it and make sure I name it something good...). Your steps worked perfectly for me to recreate it (with the necessary MS name).

This was extremely helpful

I had the same problem with 2010 exchange in mixed mode with 2003 i brock my lab and had to re-install 2010 mb,cas,hub again. i had to clean up with adsiedt.msc on the dc after all this i ran 2010 setup on clean server then the failure appeared many hours of trying figure it out i came across your post Brilliant it worked for me, i installed my first 2010 exchange into my enviroment and the my cas array thanks very much keep the great post coming ED server administrator South Africa