After I have already explained the installation of Exchange 2019 on Server 2019 with graphical user interface now follows the recommended installation on Windows Server 2019 Core. The installation of Exchange 2019 on Server Core is quicker than on a server with a graphical user interface; once Exchange has been installed, there is virtually no need to get used to it. The Exchange Management Shell is also available on a Server Core. The Exchange Admin Center can be accessed from any computer. If you want to install Exchange on Server Core but do not want to do without a GUI, you should download the Windows Admin Center view.
Surroundings
The environment is again very simple. There is only one domain controller and one VM with Windows Server 2019 Core:
Both servers were installed as VMs. The configuration of LABEX2 (Windows Server 2019 Core) is described below.
Preparation Server 2019 Core
Server 2019 Core does not have a GUI and most of the administration tools (MMC, Server Manager, Explorer, etc.) are not included. In short: Almost everything that is operated with the mouse is missing. However, there is a small text-based tool called "sconfig" for basic settings such as host name, network and updates. Instead of the GUI, this is a TUI (Text User Interface 
I find it a bit old-fashioned that Server 2019 Core also starts the old CMD after logging in and does not switch directly to PowerShell. However, Sconfig fulfills its purpose: computer name, RDP, Windows Updates, network, domain, etc. can be configured in just a few steps:
I have only made the settings at this point:
- Computer name
- Joining the Active Directory
- Remote Desktop activated
- Assign static IP
- Windows Updates
- Telemetry... (no comment...)
All these settings can of course also be made via PowerShell and thus automated.
After the basic settings have been made, a few prerequisites must be created.
Install Exchange prerequisites
Like every other Exchange version, Exchange 2019 on Server Core also requires a few prerequisites. The quickest way to install these is via PowerShell. PowerShell can be called directly from the CMD:
Only two Windows features are initially required so that the UCMA can be installed later and the ActiveDirectory schema can be updated manually if necessary. These can be installed with the following command:
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Media-Foundation, RSAT-ADDS
Another Exchange requirement is Visual C++ 2013 Runtime. Anyone who has previously downloaded and installed this directly via browser on the server must now do without the browser. However, you can also use Powershell to quickly create a directory for the download and download the file using the following small script, for example:
New-Item c:\install -Type directory
$webClient = New-Object -TypeName System.Net.WebClient
$webClient.DownloadFile('https://download.microsoft.com/download/2/E/6/2E61CFA4-993B-4DD4-91DA-3737CD5CD6E3/vcredist_x64.exe','c:\Install\vcredist_x64.exe')
Get-ChildItem C:\install\vcredist_x64.exe
C:\install\vcredist_x64.exe
The script only serves as an example, the installation can also be wonderfully automated here.
The next step is to install UCMA 4.0. When installing Exchange on Server Core, it is essential to install UCMA 4, which is supplied with the Exchange ISO. Since I have mounted the ISO directly as a virtual drive of the VM in my environment, I can switch directly to the drive and install UCMA:
d: cd .\UCMARedist\ .\Setup.exe
Note: Once the Exchange ISO has been copied to the server, the ISO can be mounted on the server. The ISO is mounted with the following command:
Mount-DiskImage c:\Install\ExchangeServer2019-x64_RTM.iso
These were already all the requirements for the Exchange installation. The rest of the required Windows features can be installed directly with the Exchange setup, which is now absolutely stable.
At this point, the server should be restarted again before starting the Exchange setup.
Install Exchange 2019
After the restart Exchange can be installed, for this test environment I used the following command:
.\Setup.exe /m:install /roles:mb /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms /InstallWindowsComponents /OrganizationName:FrankysWebLab
Note: If the ISO was mounted on the server, it must also be mounted again after the server is restarted.
The parameter /OrganizationName is optional and only specifies the Exchange organization name; if the parameter is omitted, the first Exchange organization is called "First Exchange Organization". The parameter should only be specified for new Exchange installations in which there are no previous versions of Exchange Server.
There are a few more parameters that can be transferred directly during setup. For example, the installation directory or the name and path of the database can be specified. A list of the parameters can be output with the following command:
.\Setup.exe /help:Install
After Exchange has been installed, EMS can be used to set the Basic configuration perform. The Exchange Management Shell can be started with the following command (from CMD and PowerShell):
The Exchange Admin Center can be accessed from another computer via the following link:
- https://ExchangeServerIP/ecp
