XADM: Exchange 2000 Installation Requires Access to Schema Master

When you are attempting to install Exchange 2000 on a server in an existing Windows 2000 domain, you may receive the following error message, or you may just experience these symptoms instead of receiving the error message: Setup does not show any progress at the Updating the Active Directory Schema portion of the installation.

This problem occurs because during the installation of Exchange 2000, Exchange attempts to update the Active Directory Schema Master. If any loss of connectivity to the Windows 2000 domain controller that holds the Schema Master flexible single master operation role occurs, the Exchange 2000 installation does not continue past its current point of progress.

To work around this problem, verify that you have connectivity to the Schema Master flexible single master operation server. For additional information about how to locate a flexible single master operation role holder, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: After you have established connectivity to the Schema Master flexible single master operation server, stop and then restart the Exchange 2000 installation process. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
2. Click Microsoft Exchange 2000 Installation Wizard.
3. Click End Task.
4. Close Task Manager.
5. Restart the Exchange 2000 installation.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.