Exchange Server - 03 -> 07 transition probs: The component" Exchange...cannot be assigned the action "Remove"

I am in the process of trying to remove an 03 exchange server (which is also
a domain controller, yes I know...) after the mailboxes etc have been moved
to 2007 server.

I receive the message:  The component "Microsoft Exchange Messaging and
Collaboration Services" cannot be assigned the action "Remove" because:
-One or more users currently use a mailbox store on this server. These users
must be moved to a mailbox store on a different server or be mail disabled
before uninstalling this server.

Prior to attempting to remove the ex 03 server I followed the instructions
from msexchange.org: "Removing The Last Exchange 2003 Server From Exchange
2007".
The 2007 server seems quite happy

I have also followed the steps in MSKB 924170, and no mailboxes are
associted with the old server.

The only thing that looks a bit dirty are some of the old public system
folders, such as EFORMS REGISTRY, OFFLINE ADDRESS BOOK, SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY
etc. This all show up pn the 2007 but the properties state that info is "Not
available on this server". Are these needed on the 2007 server, can I just
delete them? (we are using outlook 2007)

BTW the public folders and the mailbox stores have both been removed from
the 2003 server via ESM. Perhaps foolishly I also removed "First Storage
Group" from the old server using ESM.

What can I do next to remove the 2003 server?

regards F

Try using LDP to search the AD for the wayward objects. Or use
CSVDE.exe to export the contents of the directory (limit it to just
the necessary properties!) and then seach the resulting CSV file for
the server name.

it is in there isomewhere.
---
Rich Matheisen
MCSE+I, Exchange MVP

Thanks Rich, I followed MS Article ID: 279202 and found a user with that
attribute. It turns out that they did not have a mailbox, but did have some
exchange attributes, removing exchange attributes via dsa.msc allowed
exchange to uninstall cleanly

F

i would like to recreate this issue and test it on lab
How do i go abou that ..
--
Dhruv Raj

The server in question had been an exchange server for about 6 years, in
that time probaly about 100s of users were added and deleted or messed about
wtih.

The original physical server was falling to bits, so the machine was PtoV
onto a hyper-v server.

The exchange organisation was upgraded to 2007

Some mailboxes were manged by ex 03 ESM, some by 07 Mgmt.

Eventually all mailboxes were moved to the 2007 (but not all at the same
time)

The problem user was someone whose mailbox had been deleted, but for some
reason still had exchange attributes in AD.

I do not even know how you would go about re-createing that in a lab!

F