*Bulletin ID* A2E_173
*Last Review* 02/06/2012
*Revision* 1.1
*Previous IDs* None
*Obsoletes* None

Cannot run Add2Exchange Console as “Administrator” or installed as BES or Domain Admin

Summary

Add2Exchange will not run as the default Windows “Administrator” account. If the program is installed as the Administrator, domain Administrator or Bes Admin account or any other account without the proper permissions model, the only recommended option is to create a new account specifically for the purposes of Add2Exchange Administration.

If Add2Exchange was installed under the wrong account, it must be uninstalled and there are two methods to switch the installation to a new Add2Exchange Service account. The purpose of this bulletin is to outline the procedure to cleanup during the uninstallation and get the system ready for a reinstallation. There are two methods to do this, one without active relationships and one with active relationships.

*Tip*
The certified Diditbetter.com Software Support Team will do and guarantee the results of either of these procedures as a standard LEVEL 2 Service incident, for only $149. US, and will correct any of these procedures done in error for $149. during the hours of 9-4:30 EST. If before during or after hour service is required, please contact your representative to be scheduled 24 hours in advance at 800-837-8636 or 813-977-5739 or email your request to support@diditbetter.com or fill out the form at http://support.diditbetter.com/support-request.aspx.

Symptom

You receive a warning dialog when trying to run the console, which states:

Add2Exchange has been configured to use the System’s Administrator Account. This is an incorrect configuration and will not operate properly. Terminating application. Please contact Tech Support

Description

The easiest symptom to identify this abnormal situation is if Add2Exchange was installed as the Administrator. Since the Administrator is usually part of the Domain Administrators Group, this account will not work properly since the Domain Administrator has certain deny access to the mailboxes. When attempting to open the Add2Exchange Console for the first time, a warning dialog appears, informing you that running under the “Administrator” account is an incorrect configuration. The Console does not open. If you get this error, please follow Resolution 1.

*Note*
You may not get this error while opening the Add2Exchange Console if you installed as an account other than administrator, such as the BES Admin account or other service account and this will still require you to perform one of the following procedures. Yes, you could elevate or remove permissions to this user account, but this is not recommended, nor supported. We DO NOT recommend you modify any existing account to Administrate Add2Exchange unless administering Add2Exchange is the only purpose of this account. Symptoms of this situation are massive source item failure errors in the Add2Exchange Event log.

The Add2Exchange Console will not run as the default Windows “Administrator” account, nor any other account with Domain Admins or Exchange System Admins group membership in Active Directory. DidItBetter Software does not support running Add2Exchange as “Administrator” on any version of Exchange.

Resolution

If the program was installed prior, then it MAY just be a registry key to change. If it truly was installed as the Administrator, the rest of this article may apply. 

If the program was installed as the service account, a simple registry change may be sufficient. 

Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenDoor Software®\Add2Exchange for 32-bit machines or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\OpenDoor Software\Add2Exchange for 64-bit machines.

 

Find and open the key named ServiceAccount and blank out the "Administrator"  value. This value will be automatically reloaded with the correct service account name when you Open the Console again as the Add2Exchange Service Account.

Try Opening the Console.  Next, if successful, be sure the Add2Exchange Service is started with the service account credentials.

 

If the program was installed as the Administrator, then there are two resolutions to fix this problem, each ideal for a particular scenario. Each requires a reboot, one reboot after the uninstall of the A2ESqlServer and MS Updates in the recommended Resolution 1 and one reboot after the optional Microsoft Critical Updates step in Resolution 2.

Recommended Resolution 1 “Undo the current install and “Start Fresh”. As an brief overview, (follow the exact steps below) you will be uninstalling Add2Exchange and A2ESQLServer, deleting the registry entries and installed files, then logging off and back on and reinstalling as the proper account with the proper permissions. This resolution is recommended in the scenario if while either opening the Add2Exchange Console you get the error below OR you have made relationships that errored while replication or NEVER replicated at all, or you do not have too many relationships to delete and recreate.

Resolution 2 is a bit more technical and if not followed exactly to the letter, can require a paid technical support session. Use this resolution if you have many relationships and do not want to delete them and recreate them and leave users without their information for any length of time. This procedure moves the installation to a new account and saves the relationships which HAVE replicated. As a brief overview, (follow the exact steps below to complete this resolution), you will have to perform a process to correct the Add2Exchange profile information in the Windows Registry, change the log on credentials of the Add2Exchange Service and A2ESQLServer, uninstall Add2Exchange, create the appropriate service account and reinstall Add2Exchange as the new account.

The standard Microsoft disclaimers about the potential for harming your system while doing either of these procedures while editing the registry apply. Please refer to Microsoft’s registry editing guidelines, practices and warnings at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986

Recommended Resolution 1

Completely “start again” by undoing what was done and redoing it again according to the procedures in the manual. This assumes you have no relationships which have EVER replicated, OR
you can remove the relationships, removing destination copies and let Add2Exchange synchronize one complete cycle to remove the destination copies. If any of the relationships have replicated and the mailboxes you have replicated to are test accounts or are no longer available, you should still follow this procedure.

The Recommended Solution to Start Again” requires uninstalling and reinstalling as a new and correctly configured account. This procedure will require a reboot BEFORE reinstalling Add2Exchange.

Log on to the replication server as the account you installed Add2Exchange with.

If you never created relationships, skip to the next paragraph. If so, continue to the next line.

  1. Open the Add2Exchange Console
  2. Delete all relationships and select to remove destination copies
  3. Close the Add2Exchange Console and let it replicate to try to delete relationships and remove destination copies. If the program has errors where it fails to log on similar to those it had when it initially replicated, it is probable it never replicated. To be sure, you can open up the user’s mailbox and view the contents of the folder, and compare. If you are more technical, you can verify non replication with the Add2Exchange Toolkit (on the desktop) and select “Inspector General” from the free side. Pick the destination folder and on the Message Statistics tab, view the number of A2E copies. If there are none, it dereplicated successfully or never replicated in the first place. Be careful with this tool, it is extremely powerful.
  4. Select each destination mailbox and folder to view the destination folders for copies and a2e items. If there are none, you can then assume it dereplicated successfully or the lack of permissions on the installed account prohibited it from working and you can “remove without prejudice”.
  5. Close the Add2Exchange Console and any ODS Tools if open
  6. Open the Services Control Manager applet from the Control Panel – Administrative Tools
  7. Stop the A2ESQLServer Service
  8. Stop the Add2Exchange Service
  9. Verify the Add2Exchange Service is not started and not disabled. The service should be set to either Automatic or Manual startup type to avoid an instant reboot.
  10. Open the Task Manager
    • This step is to make sure there are no A2E or Add2Exchange supporting programs in memory in the Processes tab so it is a clean uninstall and does not require a reboot. In task manager it is easier to see if you sort by Image Name by clicking the header. Make sure Add2Exchange Service.exe, A2E Director.exe or A2ESP.exe, A2EGALMgrpgm.exe, A2ERELMan.exe or any other programs that start with A2E are not there. If so, close them now. Since you will be uninstalling, you can end the process from the list by right clicking and select End process – however, in the correct install, never do this as incomplete replication will result..
  11. From the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs and select Change SQL.
  12. Uninstall the instance of A2ESQLServer Database completely.
  13. Next, Uninstall Add2exchange completely.
  14. Then open Windows Explorer to navigate to the file system where Add2Exchange was installed – usually by default to C:\Program Files\OpenDoor Software® or (x86)
  15. Delete the entire (Program files\OpenDoor Software) directory and Subdirs.
  16. Go into the Registry
  17. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenDoor Software®\ for 32-bit machines or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\OpenDoor Software® for 64-bit machines
    • Please save this existing Registry hive to an accessible location (for safekeeping) and name it “versionXXX installed as admin.reg”.
  18. Delete the entire key and subkeys for OpenDoor Software®\.
  19. Optional but highly recommended: Next, open Internet Explorer and go to:

http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Then do all the Microsoft Critical updates required on this machine. Afterward, you must reboot.

From this point, there is no trace that Add2Exchange was installed on this machine.

Overview of the next steps:

Using an account which can create and configure user accounts, (probably this one you are logged in as now) create the Add2Exchange Service Account as described in the Pre-Installation Instructions section of the Add2Exchange Installation Guide.

Next, log in as the New Add2Exchange Service Account. Be sure to have opened up the Add2Exchange Mailbox in Outlook or Outlook Web Access to initialize the mailbox as outlined in the prerequisites.

If your software maintenance is still valid or you are still in trial, please download and install the latest free upgrade from here: http://support.diditbetter.com/downloads.aspx.

Crucial Step: Please be sure to download the correct CURRENT upgrade version of Add2Exchange Standard or Add2Exchange Enterprise Edition. There is no downgrade from Enterprise to Standard because of the advanced technologies used, but the upgrade from Standard to Enterprise is very smooth.

Once installed, if the product was originally licensed, you will need to relicense. If you were in trial, the trial should take up where it left off.

Open the Add2Exchange Console. If you had relationships, all of the relationships will be in alert status since you changed the Add2Exchange Service Account. You must reapply for a license transfer, pay the $50 license transfer fee and request a license from the License dropdown in the Add2Exchange Console. Please verify the information on the tabs before sending. Once the licenses have been generated and received (12-48 hours), select the module you are licensing and paste the entire key for that module into box #1 and Add2Exchange should say “Thank you”.

Resolution 2: Saving the relationships

This resolution is a bit more technical and if not followed exactly to the letter, can require a paid technical support session. Use this resolution if you have many relationships or do not want to delete them and recreate them and leave users without their information for any length of time. This procedure moves the installation of Add2Exchange to a new account, saves the relationships which HAVE replicated, and then “picks up where it left off” after a successful installation as the new Add2Exchange Service Account. This resolution does not fix any relationships which are now “in Alert”. During this process you will have to reboot after the SQL uninstall of A2ESQLServer databases. After this process is completed, you will need pay the license transfer fee and relicense to continue replicating with the new account.

The standard Microsoft disclaimers about the potential for harming your system while editing the registry apply. Please refer to Microsoft’s registry editing guidelines, practices and warnings at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986

It is helpful to create and configure the Add2Exchange Service Account before this process as described in the Step by Step Pre-Installation Instructions section of the Add2Exchange Installation Guide.

While logged in as the (existing old) account under which you installed Add2Exchange:

  1. Navigate to the Control Panel – Administrative Tools – Services Control Manager
  2. Stop the Add2Exchange Service and verify the Add2Exchange Service is not started and not disabled. The Add2Exchange Service should be set to either Automatic or Manual startup type to avoid an instant reboot.
  3. Stop the A2ESQLServer Service
  4. In the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel, uninstall Add2Exchange.
  5. Start the registry editor by executing regedit.exe from either a command prompt or the Run… dialog.
  6. Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenDoor Software®\Add2Exchange for 32-bit machines or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\OpenDoor Software\Add2Exchange for 64-bit machines. Find and open the key named ServiceAccount and blank out the value. This value will be automatically reloaded when you reinstall as the Add2Exchange Service Account.
  7. Navigate down in the same hive to the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenDoor Software®\Add2Exchange\Profile 1” subkey. Open the LicenseAddress Key and blank out the value. This value will be filled in when the Add2Exchange Console is opened after reinstall.

If you have not already, create and configure the Add2Exchange Service Account as described in the Step by Step Pre-Installation Instructions section of the Add2Exchange Installation Guide.

Optional but highly recommended: Next, open Internet Explorer and go to:

http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Then do all the ms critical updates required on this machine. Afterward, you must reboot.

Log out as the installed user and log in as the new properly configured Add2Exchange Service Account.

If your software maintenance is still valid or you are still in trial, please install the latest version from here: http://www.diditbetter.com/downloads.aspx.

Crucial Step: Please be sure to download the correct CURRENT upgrade version of Add2Exchange Standard or Add2Exchange Enterprise Edition. There is no downgrade from Enterprise to Standard, but the upgrade to Enterprise from Standard is smooth.

Install Add2Exchange under the Service Account

Crucial Step: It is important to properly specify the same installation directory you installed Add2Exchange under the first time. The installer may not have had a chance to recall the directory under which you initially installed Add2Exchange, so if you are not sure, verify the correct directory before you click Next >.

From there, Add2Exchange should function correctly once relicensed for this account.

Open the Add2Exchange Console. If you had relationships, all of the relationships will be in alert status since you changed the Add2Exchange Service Account. You must reapply for a license transfer, pay the $50 license transfer fee and request a license from the License dropdown in the Add2Exchange Console. Please verify the information on the tabs before sending. Once the licenses have been generated (12-48 hours) and received, select the module you are licensing and paste the entire key for that module into box #1 and it should say “Thank you”.

If after licensing the relationships are still in alert, please consult this reference to fix relationships in alert:

http://guides.diditbetter.com/a2e-guide/relationship_alerts_and_unlicensed_relationships.htm

Applies To

  • Add2Exchange Standard
  • Add2Exchange Enterprise

Keywords: Service Account, Add2Exchange Standard, Add2Exchange Enterprise, Domain Admin, BES Admin, Installed as Admin

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