I'm trying to get Exchange 2000 up and running on a Windows 2000 Server. Upon installing Exchange I receive a The component "Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Collaboration Services" cannot be assigned the action "Install" because: A server object for this server ("CCMSERVER") already exists in the Administration Group "First Administrative Group." You must either remove this server object before installing or run setup with the "DisasterRecovery" switch... So with this I know that Exchange was previously installed on the server I have. I spent a day or two messing around and I think that Exchange was installed unsuccessfully. A few reasons why I believe this. I am unable to create any mail accounts for users in the domain because I do not have a mailbox Store and I'm unable to create the folder for the Mailbox store in the System Manager... I've tried to do the /DisasterRecovery switch and i get a Cannot find the file xxxx(or one of its components) Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available. If i take out the /disasterrecovery I can run setup.exe. I need to delete the First Administrative Group from the Exchange System Manager and I cant delete it because the CCMSERVER is listed in there and I can't remove the server because its active. (The Exchange server is installed ontop of the CCMSERVER) So, how can I make the server Inactive? to delete the First Administrative Group to reinstall Exchange 2000?

The only option that might work is to do a custom installation. Install the management tools only. Once complete, you may then be able to right click on the server (wait a long time for it to time out) and then choose Delete. That should remove the traces of the server from the domain. I think that works with 2000 - I haven't seen a 2000 server for about 3 years. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources

Hi, If there is no other exchange server in your organization, you can remove the whole exchange organization then start a new installation of exchange 2000: 1. On server 2000, start ADSIedit.msc. 2. Expand to Configuration, CD=Service, right click 'CD=Microsoft Exchange Server' and click Delete. Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Thanks Gen Lin-MSFT