How to manually remove Exchange Server 5.5 completely

This article describes the steps to completely remove Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 from a computer manually.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Important Before you perform the steps in this article, please make sure that you have backed up any information that you may need. If you perform these steps, you delete all aspects of Exchange Server from your computer. If you perform an offline backup, make sure that the databases are consistent before you remove the installation. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To completely remove Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 from a computer manually, perform the following steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click Services, and then stop the Exchange Server system attendant. This stops all Exchange Server services.
2. Insert the Microsoft Exchange Server CD-ROM, click Install, and then click Remove All. Follow the instructions to remove all of the Exchange Server files that were installed during setup and were never modified.
   
   Note If you are using Small Business Server 4.5, the Exchange setup program (setup.exe) is located on CD #3 under the Exchsrvr\Server\Setup\i386 folder.
3. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
4. Locate the following subkey in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services
5. Delete all of the installed Exchange Server services. The following are the most commonly used Exchange Server services:
   • ESE97
   • MSExchangeDS
   • MSExchangeES
   • MSExchangeIMC
   • MSExchangeINS
   • MSExchangeIS
   • MSExchangeKMS
   • MSExchangeMTA
   • MSExchangeSA
   If other MSExchange services are present, delete them also.
6. Locate the following subkey in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft
7. Delete the three following subkeys:
   • EDB
   • ESE97
   • Exchange
8. Click Yes when you are prompted that Registry Editor may delete the currently selected key and all its subkeys.
9. Locate the following subkey in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Updates
10. Delete the following subkey:
    • Exchange 5.5
11. Click Yes when you are prompted that Registry Editor may delete the currently selected key and all its subkeys.
12. Quit Registry Editor.
    
    Note Exchange specific hotfix information may also be stored under the following registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Hotfix
13. In Microsoft Windows NT Explorer, delete the Exchsrvr folder and all of the subfolders under this folder. If you have multiple hard disks on the computer, you need to delete the Exchsrvr folder from all of these hard disks.
    
    Note If you are unable to delete the Exchsrvr folder, rename the Exchsrvr folder and then delete it.
14. Restart the Exchange server.