Exchange Services Disabled during Exchange SE setup at STEP 8

Question

Exchange Services Disabled during Exchange SE setup at STEP 8

John 0

Hello everyone,

We're actively Trying to migrate our Exchange 2016 servers to Exchange SE on Windows Server 2025.

During Step 8. the setup wizard fails to continue as the services are disabled. enabling the services manually does not help. (The Server is domain joined with all pre-req installed (incl. prepareschema and preparead). here the log from exchange setup log.

Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.ServiceDisabledException: Le service 'MSExchangeADTopology' est désactivé sur ce serveur. ---> System.InvalidOperationException: Impossible de démarrer le service MSExchangeADTopology sur l'ordinateur '.'. ---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Le service ne peut pas être démarré parce qu’il est désactivé ou qu’aucun périphérique activé ne lui est associé

--- Fin de la trace de la pile d'exception interne ---

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Answer 1

Steven-N 21,575 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi John

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A

Based on the error code you provided, specifically the inner exception System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Le service ne peut pas être démarré parce qu’il est désactivé ou qu’aucun périphérique activé ne lui est associé (Windows Error 1058) is a very specific Windows service error. It practically always means that although you are trying to start the MSExchangeADTopology service, one of its required dependent services is currently disabled.

However, to better assess the situation, could you please share the source or documentation for the steps you are following?

This will help me understand the exact process and provide more accurate guidance.

In the meantime, you may review the settings outlined below to determine whether any of them help resolve the problem.

1. Enable the Net.TCP Port Sharing Service

By default, Windows Server installs the Net.TCP Port Sharing Service (NetTcpPortSharing) in a Disabled state. MSExchangeADTopology strictly depends on this service. It is an often-missed prerequisite prior to running the Exchange Setup.

Open services.msc (or use PowerShell).
Locate the Net.TCP Port Sharing Service.
Change its Startup Type to Automatic.

2. Ensure IPv6 is NOT Disabled

Exchange Server requires IPv6 to be enabled (even if you only route via IPv4) to function correctly, particularly for the Active Directory Topology service layer.

So kindly ensure the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) checkbox is ticked in your network adapter properties.

I am looking forward to hearing from you

Regards

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John 0 Reputation points

2026-02-25T20:42:17.24+00:00
Hello Steven,

Thank you for your Swift Response

I would like to provide additional information regarding the installation process as well as the challenges we encountered during the deployment.

We followed the official Microsoft documentation for the Exchange Server SE prerequisites and installation.

Prerequisites applied:

Installation of required PowerShell modules

UCMA

IIS URL Rewrite module

Required .NET Framework version

Visual C++ Redistributables 2012 and 2013

Successful execution of PrepareSchema and PrepareAD prior to installation Reference :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/plan-and-deploy/prerequisites

https://www.alitajran.com/prepare-active-directory-and-domains-for-exchange-server/

Errors encountered during installation:

Scripting Agent error
The setup initially failed due to the Scripting Agent.
This was resolved by disabling the Scripting Agent at the organization level. Reference : https://granikos.eu/enabled-scripting-agent-extenstion-breaks-exchange-setup/

Certificate access error during setup
The wizard was unable to read the default Exchange certificate and returned an Access Denied error.
Resolution: we changed the certificate owner to Administrator and granted Read permission to NETWORK SERVICE on the certificate corresponding to the thumbprint indicated in the error.

Step 8 – Services startup failure
During Step 8 (Starting Services), setup fails with the error indicating that the MSExchangeADTopology service is disabled and cannot be started, which stops the installation.

I will also test the suggested network service verification and IPv6 configuration tomorrow and will follow up with an update.

Kindest Regards,
John 0 Reputation points

2026-02-25T20:44:22.66+00:00
Hello,

I would like to provide additional information regarding the installation process as well as the challenges we encountered during the deployment.

We followed the official Microsoft documentation for the Exchange Server SE prerequisites and installation.

Prerequisites applied:

Installation of required PowerShell modules

UCMA

IIS URL Rewrite module

Required .NET Framework version

Visual C++ Redistributables 2012 and 2013

Successful execution of PrepareSchema and PrepareAD prior to installation

Errors encountered during installation:

Scripting Agent error The setup initially failed due to the Scripting Agent. This was resolved by disabling the Scripting Agent at the organization level.

Certificate access error during setup The wizard was unable to read the default Exchange certificate and returned an Access Denied error. Resolution: we changed the certificate owner to Administrator and granted Read permission to NETWORK SERVICE on the certificate corresponding to the thumbprint indicated in the error.

Step 8 – Services startup failure During Step 8 (Starting Services), setup fails with the error indicating that the MSExchangeADTopology service is disabled and cannot be started, which stops the installation.

I will also test the suggested network service verification and IPv6 configuration tomorrow and will follow up with an update.

Kindest Regards,
Steven-N 21,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-26T05:44:33.9+00:00

Hi John

Thanks for replying

I am looking forward to hearing your update, if you have any concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me

Best regards
John 0 Reputation points

2026-03-03T19:17:32.0666667+00:00

Hello Steven,

We have verified that the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper (TCPIPSharing) service is running and configured with a Startup Type set to Automatic. Additionally, IPv6 is fully enabled on the network adapter and has not been disabled. Both configurations were double-checked to ensure they are not contributing to the issue.

Best Regards,
Steven-N 21,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-04T14:49:30.0033333+00:00

Hi John

Thanks for replying

Please allow me some time to gather the necessary information. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Regards
Steven-N 21,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-05T14:58:12.48+00:00
Hi John

Thank you for the update and for patiently verifying those settings. Since both the Net.TCP Port Sharing Service and IPv6 are already correctly configured, we need to dig deeper into which specific dependency of MSExchangeADTopology is the actual culprit.

Please try the following steps:

1. Check all dependent services of MSExchangeADTopology

Run the following command in PowerShell to list all services that MSExchangeADTopology depends on and check their statuses:

$svc = Get-Service "MSExchangeADTopology" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue $svc.ServicesDependedOn | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, Status, StartType

2. Reset all Exchange services startup type via the registry

A partially failed or interrupted Exchange setup can leave Exchange services in a Disabled state. You can reset them by running the following command in an elevated PowerShell session:

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "MSExchange*" -or $_.Name -like "HostController*" } | ForEach-Object { Set-Service -Name $_.Name -StartupType Automatic Write-Host "Set $($_.Name) to Automatic" }

After running this, do not attempt to start the services manually. Instead, re-run the Exchange SE setup and allow it to handle the startup sequence.

3. Verify the "Windows Process Activation Service" (WAS) and "World Wide Web Publishing Service" (W3SVC)

Exchange setup has been known to fail in environments where IIS-related services are disabled. Please verify:

Get-Service "WAS", "W3SVC" | Select-Object Name, Status, StartType

Both should be set to Automatic and Running.

4. Review the full Exchange Setup Log

The most reliable way to identify the exact root cause is to review the full Exchange Setup log. Please share the relevant section around the Step 8 failure from: C:\ExchangeSetupLogs\ExchangeSetup.log

Look for entries just before and after the ServiceDisabledException

Please share the outputs and we will continue from there.

Regards
John 0 Reputation points

2026-03-08T00:53:53.9+00:00

Hello Steven,

Thanks for your detailed response.

i'll perform all the required checks and come back to you with an update with the relevant information asap.

Thank you Very much.

Best Regards,
Steven-N 21,575 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-09T11:26:01.2866667+00:00

Hi John

I am looking forward to hearing from you

Best regards

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Exchange Services Disabled during Exchange SE setup at STEP 8

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