Exchange 2010 SP3 Upgrade Error

by | Feb 16, 2013 | Exchange 2010 | 16 comments

The importance of upgrading from exchange 2010 servers for enhanced security

Today whilst busy updating one of my other sites I encountered the following error:

Some controls aren’t valid. Setup previously failed while performing the action “Install”. You can’t resume setup by performaing the action “BuildToBuildUpgrade”.

For some reason Exchange thinks it did not install correctly when the previous installation was done. To fix this you need to edit the Registry, please take note doing so you do at your own risk. Make a backup of your Registry before commencing with the mods.

Open regedit (Start -> run), navigate to the following key:
-> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftExchangeServerv14

Under each role, Mailbox, Hub Transport, Client Access, have a look for an action and watermark entry, delete these 2 keys and then reboot your Exchange Server. You can now run the installation again of your Service Pack.

Hope it helps.

16 Comments

  1. Ernie
    Ernie on 31st March 2013 at 5:57 pm

    Thanks! Saved me some time 🙂

  2. Al Montes
    Al Montes on 8th April 2013 at 8:34 pm

    Ed Thank you for your knowledge and posting. It worked after I deleted entries.

  3. Nielsio
    Nielsio on 24th April 2013 at 7:58 pm

    Thanks! saved time again!!!!

  4. Byron Wright
    Byron Wright on 10th May 2013 at 4:48 am

    Thanks. Helped me out

  5. terry
    terry on 6th July 2013 at 2:36 am

    Thank you sir.

  6. Jesse West
    Jesse West on 6th August 2013 at 11:34 pm

    thank you!

  8. yousfihmd
    yousfihmd on 24th October 2013 at 9:09 pm

    thanks a lot.
    it helped me out

  9. Joe
    Joe on 23rd January 2014 at 10:34 am

    Thanks a lot!

  10. ed
    ed on 27th February 2014 at 12:30 pm

    Thanks Ed! Brilliant

  11. Ham
    Ham on 20th March 2014 at 10:19 am

    Similar experience but no registry keys. I’m quietly crapping my pants here.

  12. agentbuzz
    agentbuzz on 21st March 2014 at 11:13 pm

    Thank you! This happened to new brand new Exchange 2010 Mailbox servers. I followed your instructions and everything upgraded fine.

  13. agentbuzz
    agentbuzz on 21st March 2014 at 11:15 pm

    Thank you! This happened to two brand new Exchange 2010 SP1 Mailbox servers. I followed the instructions and everything upgraded properly.

  14. caren
    caren on 11th April 2014 at 6:37 pm

    For me it was only on the unified messaging role the other roles did not have those entries. but it worked perfectly after I deleted them. thanks

  15. A Johnson
    A Johnson on 12th May 2014 at 9:35 pm

    Resolved it for me, too; thank you.

  16. subnet192
    subnet192 on 26th November 2014 at 6:23 pm

    Another thank you 🙂

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