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How to force the removal of an exchange server from active directory

As you know, a lot of information from the exchange organization is saved in the active directory database so to dismiss a server exchange it is not enough to turn it off like a normal application, cleaning must also be done within AD.

Let's say you have to remove an exchange from your active directory, the correct thing to do is to proceed with the uninstallation of the exchange itself. Unfortunately it happens, and not so rarely, that the exchange does not uninstall properly, the process hangs in the middle or returns some error. Or, other case, Physical server crashed and unrecoverable.

In these cases the only option is to forcibly remove the server from the active directory; I usually first disable all exchange services so that the server doesn't try to do anything, and then I remove the server from AD:

Open ADSI edit, connect to the Configuration partition and go to:

Services -> Microsoft Exchange -> {Organization Name} -> Administrative Groups -> Exchange Administrative Group -> Servers

From here, simply select the server on the right, Right click -> delete

In this way you will delete all the information related to that server from the active directory.

N.B. I always recommend to try to do a clean uninstall also because the wizard before allowing you to uninstall exchange verifies that there are no more mailboxes, services, information available only on that server to avoid information loss. Only later, if the uninstallation is unsuccessful, it makes sense to proceed with the forced deletion through adsi edit.

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