Exchange 2016 installed on Server 2019

fountain 21 Reputation points
2021-09-17T14:47:52.367+00:00

Ok, I've seen it EVERYWHERE, you cannot install exchange 2016 on windows server 2019. But, we did it as soon as server 2019 was released and it's been working fine in a DAG environment with older exchange 2013 servers in a DAG. None of us remember anything about being warned that it wasn't supported or we wouldn't have continued installing it. We figured that if we installed 2016 on server 2019 we wouldn't have to upgrade the OS on the server when it came time to install exchange 2019.

Well, we've come to that point where we absolutely need to update our 2016 to the latest CU and have discovered that upon running the CU install, we're told that we can't because exchange 2016 on server 2019 isn't supported.

Is there ANYONE out there who's faced this and somehow gotten past it? Otherwise we're going to have to figure out a way to install 2016 on server 2016 and migrate the mailboxes to it. We don't have unlimited resources and could really use a pointer. I'd like to think that we're not the only ones in this situation and that MS would have a workaround.

Regards

Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019
A Microsoft server operating system that supports enterprise-level management updated to data storage.
3,470 questions
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Andy David - MVP 142.2K Reputation points MVP
    2021-09-17T16:20:33.823+00:00

    Early builds probably didnt check for it. I think your only option is to build new Exch/W2016 servers and add those to the DAG, then replicate the databases to the new server. If these are in a DAG, there is no need to move mailboxes.