As some of you already know Exchange 2007 is a 64bit Server Software. That means it typically needs to run on a 64bit OS like Windows 2008 64bit or Windows 2003 64bit. What a lot of people don’t know is that there is a 32bit version of the software. Microsoft is not really wanting to let people in on this secret as they have now renamed things.
Disclaimer
The only 32bit version of Exchange is for testing purposes only. I don’t recommend that you use this software for any other reason then testing. If you decided to use this in a production environment you will not get any support for Microsoft nor myself. You will be able to at least test out Exchange and get a good feel for things.
Overview
This How to install Exchange 2007 in Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 post will go over downloading the software and then running through a very basic install of Exchange in a 32bit environment.
What do we need?
- Please make sure you have at least one Domain Controller and Active Directory Setup.
- Make sure the Domain Functional level is at least Windows 2000 Native Mode
- Please install Powershell on the server you want to deploy exchange 2007 on.
- Please make sure all servers are completely patched before you do anything.
- If you have any Exchange 2003 servers make sure thy are patched up to SP2.
- Download Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (32-Bit) 800MB+
I am going to be showing you the install process with a Windows 2008 32bit Virtual Machine.
You are going to need to open “Program and Roles” from the Control panel.
Click on Roles and then “Add new Role”.
Click “NEXT”
Select “Web Server (IIS)
A Window will pop-up asking if you want to “Add Required Features”.
Click Add Required Features
Click Next
Click Next on the introduction page.
Keep the default selections but check off:
- ASP.net
- Basic Authentication
- Windows Authentication
- Digest Authentication
- Dynamic Content Compression
- IIS 6 Management Compatibility
Once the installation is done click “Close”
Restart the Server.
Open a command prompt and type:
ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS
Restart the server. All the pre-requisites for installing Exchange 2007 Server are now complete.
The Exchange Management Tools that you downloaded will need to be run. On Windows 2008 you MUST right click and “run as administrator”. Why? I have no idea. All the file does is extracts and expands it’s contents to a directory.
Once it is extracted go to the directory and open the exchange folder
Run “setup.exe”
You will now see something similar to this. Click Install Exchange Server 2007 SP1.
Click next.
Accept the terms and sign your life away.
I like help Microsoft out. Click YES then NEXT.
Click NEXT.
Select the server that mail will flow through. Click NEXT.
The Exchange installation Wizard will do a scan of your network. It will tell you that this is not to be used for production use. It will also say the install routine will make some changes to Active Directory.
Hit “install”.
It should all complete with green checks. Hit Finish.
Reboot. You’re Done!
Cassondra Wilhoite says
I’m such a newbie when it comes to all this, thanks for taking the time to write this up, keep them coming! How to install Exchange 2007 in Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 | Jared Heinrichs was a wonderful read.