HowTo: Installing Exchange 2016 on Windows Server 2016

February 3, 2025September 28, 2016 by Frank Zöchling

This howto describes the installation of Exchange 2016 on Windows Server 2016.

Note: This article is a bit older. There is an updated version here:

https://www.frankysweb.de/howto-installation-exchange-2016-cu8-auf-server-2016/

Create Active Directory account

Windows Server 2016 relies on a stricter user separation. It is therefore not advisable to install the Exchange Server with the "Administrator" user; instead, an administrative user should be created to carry out the Exchange installation. This is not a service account with which the Exchange services are started.

The following rights are required for the account that performs the Exchange installation:

Domain Admins
Organization Admins
Scheme admins

Note: The "Schema Admins" group is only required if the schema is extended during the Exchange installation. The schema can also be extended separately with another user before the Exchange installation.

Install prerequisites

The easiest way to install the required Windows features and roles is via PowerShell:

Install-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface, RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation, RSAT-ADDS

Note: The PowerShell must be executed with administrative rights:

After installing the Windows features, UCMA Runtime 4 must be installed:

Unified Communications Managed API 4.0 Runtime

Configure Windows Server

Windows Defender should be temporarily deactivated before the Exchange Server installation. Otherwise the installation may take longer and cause other problems:

After the Exchange installation, Windows Defender is configured accordingly and switched on again.

General recommendation for Exchange Server: The size of the swap file should be set to the size of the RAM plus 10 MB. With 10 GB RAM (10240 MB + 10 MB), this results in a fixed swap file size of 10250 MB:

If the Exchange Server has 32 GB or more RAM, the maximum size for the swap file is 32778 MB. With 64 GB RAM, this remains at 32778 MB.

Furthermore, for performance reasons, the following assignment of drives is advisable:

Laufwerk C:\ für die Windows Installation
Laufwerk D:\ Auslagerungsdatei
Laufwerk E:\ Exchange Installation
Laufwerk F:\ Datenbank
Laufwerk G:\ Logfiles der Datenbank

If you have several databases, it is advisable to mount the database and log files in folders so that you do not run out of drive letters.

Several SCSI controllers can also be used in virtual environments:

SCSI Controller 1 for C:, D: and E:
SCSI Controller 2 for F:
SCSI Controller 3 for G:

Exchange Server Installation

Once the operating system has been prepared, Exchange Server 2016 can be installed. Windows Server 2016 is supported from Exchange 2016 CU3. The CU3 is also suitable for installation and can be downloaded here:

Cumulative Update 3 for Exchange Server 2016 (KB3152589)

The Exchange installation is then unspectacular, so I will only comment in the relevant places:

Following the license conditions, it is recommended to select "Do not use recommended settings", as otherwise settings will not be available in the further course:

Exchange 2016 only has one role (mailbox role), apart from the Edge Transport role:

After selecting the mailbox role, the installation directory can be customized. As described above, the installation directory should be located on a separate partition or hard disk:

You can now enter the name of the Exchange organization:

If all requirements are met, only the warning appears that the Active Directory schema will be extended if it has not been done before.

Once the installation is complete, Windows Defender can be configured.

Configure Windows Defender

Windows Defender is activated by default on Windows Server 2016. As Exchange Server requires some exclusions from the virus scanner, these must also be stored accordingly in Windows Defender. The same applies to virus scanners from other manufacturers.

The following information can be found on the Exchange Team Blog:

Windows Defender is on by default in Windows Server 2016. Attention to malware settings is particularly important with Exchange to avoid long processing times during installation and upgrade, as well as unexpected performance issues. The Exchange team recommends the Exchange installation and setup log folders be excluded from scanning in Windows Defender and other Anti-Virus software. Exchange noderunner processes should also be excluded from Windows Defender.

Source: Exchange Team Blog

The exclusions for Exchange 2016 are documented here in Technet:

Running Windows antivirus software on Exchange 2016 servers

However, the list is long, so Exchange MVP Paul Cunningham has published a script that clearly sorts the folders, processes and file types into 3 files. You can download the script here:

Generate Antivirus Exclusions for Exchange 2013 and 2016 Servers

To avoid having to enter all exclusions manually in Windows Defender, I have created a script that uses the files from Paul's script and adds the exclusions to Windows Defender via PowerShell:

Exchange 2016: Virus scanner exclusions (script for Windows Defender)

Once the exceptions have been entered, Windows Defender can be reactivated.