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Exchange 2010 SP1 Installation

I have had several customers ask me about Exchange 2010 SP1 and whether I have had any issues with the installation. In response to several such requests, I thought I’d share my experience installing Exchange 2010 SP1 in my test lab. In this article, my lab consists of a single server running the following:

  • Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
  • Multi-Role Exchange 2010 Server (HUB, CAS, MB)

I ran into issues immediately when the installation Readiness Checks returned the following hotfixes must be installed before SP1 can be installed:

Screen shots of the errors I received follow:
Hub Transport Role Prerequisites:

Client Access Role Prerequisites:

Mailbox Role Prerequisites:

The Exchange Team Blog has some information about the hotfix prerequisites required for Exchange 2010 SP1 that you can read about here: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/09/01/456094.aspx. Hoping that I could avoid downloading each hotfix independently, I tried running Windows Update, making sure to check for application updates, but that did not install any of the required hotfixes. I also tried to install Exchange 2010 Roll Up 4 hoping that the required hotfixes might be included in Roll Up 4, but that did not contain any of the required hotfixes either.
Here is an excerpt from the Exchange Team Blog that helps explain why the hotfixes are necessary:
“Given that the Exchange team released SP1 earlier than what was planned and announced earlier, it did not align with some of the work with the Windows platform. As a result, some hotfixes are available from MSDN/Connect, and some require that you request them online using the links in the corresponding KBAs.”
Reading the above excerpt did not give me a whole lot of comfort because it seemed to indicate that finding and downloading all of the hotfixes was not going to be exceptionally straight forward. The link provided in the Hub Transport Rule Prerequisites took me exactly where I needed to go. I found it interesting that I needed to install the Office 2010 Filter Packs again, because I know that I had installed them once already during my initial installation. However, reinstalling the Office 2010 Filter Packs presented me with no issues. I then downloaded all 4 remaining hotfixes separately and installed them one at a time.
Here are the links to the downloads that I required:

As the Exchange Team Blog site mentioned, the download experience for each hotfix was slightly different than you might expect. Make sure to download the correct version of each file. In my case I downloaded the Windows6.1 hotfixes with an x64.msu extension. For example:

Two of the hotfixes that I installed required a reboot. However, I installed all 4 hotfixes along with reinstalling the Office 2010 Filter Packs one after the other, and then only rebooted once after all 5 were installed. After I installed all hotfixes, installing Exchange 2010 SP1 worked just fine. Note that SP1 also requires a reboot after installation, so plan to reboot each of your production Exchange 2010 Servers at least twice to complete the SP1 installation.
The Exchange Team Blog mentions some additional issues that some administrators have experienced after installing Exchange 2010 SP1. I have not experienced any of those issues as of yet. So far the only challenge I have had with Exchange 2010 SP1 has been the installation. However, once I found, downloaded, and installed all the prerequisites my installation proceeded without issue.

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