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Find the current Active Directory schema

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An Active Directory (AD) schema is a set of rules that defines what kinds of object classes you can create in an AD forest. For more information, see Active Directory schema (AD DS).

This article walks you through how to find the schema version and Exchange Services schema version that your forest uses.

Prerequisites

In order to perform the tasks described in this article, your environment must meet the following requirements:

  • Your machine should run Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 or later.
  • You must install the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) role. To learn more, see Install or uninstall roles, role services, or features.
  • The server must be a domain controller (DC).
  • Users must be part of the Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins groups.

Finding the schema version

To find the current Active Directory schema version:

Note

The internal root domain that we use in this demo is contoso.local. You'll need to modify the DC= field to correspond with the AD configuration in your own environment.

Depending on your configuration, you might also need to import the AD PowerShell module by running the Import-Module ActiveDirectory command before you can start running AD cmdlets.

  1. Open the Start menu.

  2. Enter ADSIEdit.msc, then select Enter to open ADSI Edit.

  3. In the pane on the left side of the window, right-click on ADSI Edit, then select Connect to.

  4. In the Connection Settings window under Select a well known Naming Context, select Schema, then select OK.

  5. In the pane on the left side of the window, expand the schema for your DC.

  6. Right-click on CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=local, then select Properties.

  7. In the Attribute list, scroll down until you find the objectvVersion attribute. The value is the schema version.

When you're finished, use the table in Mapping the objectVersion attribute to find which operating system (OS) version corresponds to your version number.

Mapping the objectVersion attribute

The following table maps the number shown in the objectVersion attribute value with its corresponding OS version:

Version Operating system
91 Windows Server 2025
88 Windows Server 2022
88 Windows Server 2019
87 Windows Server 2016
69 Windows Server 2012 R2
56 Windows Server 2012
47 Windows Server 2008 R2
44 Windows Server 2008 RTM
31 Windows Server 2003 R2
30 Windows Server 2003 RTM, Windows 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows 2003 Service Pack 2

Find the current Exchange Schema version

To find the current Exchange Schema version, you can use one of the following methods:

  1. Open the Start menu.

  2. Enter ADSIEdit.msc, then select Enter to open ADSI Edit.

  3. In the pane on the left side of the window, right-click on ADSI Edit, then select Connect to.

  4. In the Connection Settings window under Select a well known Naming Context, select Schema, then select OK.

  5. In the pane on the left side of the window, expand the schema for your DC.

  6. Select CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=local.

  7. In the pane in the center of the window, scroll down the Name list and open CN=ms-Exch-Schema-Version-Pt.

  8. In the Attribute list, scroll down until you find the rangeUpper attribute. The value is the schema version.

When you're finished, use the information in Mapping the rangeUpper attribute to determine which version of Exchange Schema corresponds to your attribute value.

Mapping the rangeUpper attribute

The following articles show how to map the rangeUpper attribute value with its corresponding Exchange Schema version:

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