Microsoft KB Archive/251727

= XADM: User Accounts Disappear from Active Directory After You Remove an Exchange 2000 Installation That Does Not Work =

Article ID: 251727

Article Last Modified on 2/26/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q251727





SYMPTOMS
User accounts disappear from Active Directory after you use the Active Directory Administration tool (Ldp.exe) to remove an Exchange 2000 installation that does not work.



CAUSE
Exchange 2000 creates phantom objects in several Active Directory containers. When Ldp.exe deletes the Exchange 2000 organization in recursive mode, it deletes both the phantom objects and the actual user objects.

NOTE: Recursive mode is one of the options available in the Delete dialog box when you issue a delete command in Ldp.exe.



RESOLUTION
The Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Exchange 2000 removes Exchange 2000 more effectively than earlier version, and cleaning up with Ldp.exe or ADSI Edit is not necessary.



WORKAROUND
WARNING: If you use the ADSI Edit snap-in, the LDP utility, or any other LDAP version 3 client, and you incorrectly modify the attributes of Active Directory objects, you can cause serious problems. These problems may require you to reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server, or both. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that occur if you incorrectly modify Active Directory object attributes can be solved. Modify these attributes at your own risk.

Use either Ldp.exe without recursive selection checked, or ADSI Edit to manually remove the Exchange 2000 organization after an aborted installation. ADSI Edit deletes items in non-recursive mode. ADSI Edit is part of the Tools setup in the Windows 2000 Server CD located Support\Tools folder.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server.

Keywords: kbbug kbnofix KB251727

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