Disclaimer:

All the information in this blog post is subject to change as Exchange Server 2013 is still under construction. Although it’s not very likely that big changes will occur between now an RTM, it might.

In this article, we’ll have a closer look at how to install Exchange Server 2013.

Before continuing, please make sure that you have fulfilled all the required prerequisites and that you have prepared your Active Directory. For more information, take a look at my other article:

For those who have already been working with Exchange Server 2010, you’ll notice that the process itself is pretty similar and as straightforward as it was before.

To start the setup of Exchange Server 2013, open PowerShell on the server you want to install and type in the following commands:

For the the Mailbox Server role only:

./setup.exe /mode:install /role:m /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

For the Client Access Server role only:

./setup.exe /mode:install /role:c /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

For both Mailbox Server & Client Access Server role:

./setup.exe /mode:install /role:m,c /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Note   Note the use of setup.exe and the /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms switch. Setup.com (which was used before) is now deprecated and has been replaced by setup.exe.The licensing-switch is also new in Exchange Server 2013 and is required to launch the setup. Many admins will welcome the latter as it will generally save you some time with each deployment, now that you don’t have to wait for the licensing-message to display and time-out!

After you launch one of the commands from above, setup will kick off. Depending on what you are installing, the output might look like this:

image

Once setup completes successfully, restart the computer and you’re good to go!

Installation Logs

Setup creates a log file “ExchangeSetup.txt” under the root (as was the case in Exchange Server 2010):

C:\ExchangeSetupLogs

image

I recommend that you take a look at the log after the installation file to check whether everything completed successfully. In case you encounter any issues, this is probably also the first place to go looking for more information.