Exchange BPA Errors (Exchange server is a virtual machine but the additional tools are not installed and The 'Services' string type value located in 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup\Services' registry key is missing)

Question

Hi,
I am running BPA on My Exchange 2010 VM (Server 2008 R2 VM on Hyper-V) and get the following errors:
The 'Services' string type value located in 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup\Services' registry key is missing or inaccessible. The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service won't start. As a result, all services that depend
on this service won't be able to start
Exchange server [Exchange Server FQDN] is a virtual machine but the additional tools are not installed. This configuration is not supported. Install Virtual Machine Additions for this guest.
Problem is that, for the first, that Key exists and the service is actually running fine. And for the second my VM tools are already installed.
Hopefully someone out there has had the same issue and can assist.
Pete

Answer 1

Hi Pete,
For the first error message, please try the following steps:
Make sure the Information Store service is in Starting status,
Automatic startup type and works well, as a test we can try to
restart the Infroamtion Store service and verify the service works well.
Start
Registry Editor, find the registry key “Services” under “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Setup”, its value is “C:\Program
files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\v14”(default install location), please check your registry, make sure the key “Services” exist and value is the Exchange Server install location and the
location is accessible;
Start
Registry Editor, and locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Setup
Use the
Permission option under the Security tab to check the permission setting on this key. Make sure
System is in the list with Full Control permissions if the service account is Local System. If you are not using Local System as the service account, check the existence of the corresponding account in the list and ensure that
it has Full Control permissions. Please refer to this article:
Title: Exchange Store Does Not Start: Errors 7024, 1026, 9542, and 5000
Link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285116
Start
ADSI Edit, and then browse to the following location:
Domain.com/Configuration/Services/Microsoft Exchange/Org/Administrative Groups/AdminGroup/Servers/Server Name
Right-click the
server name, and then click Properties.
Click the
Security tab, make sure this own server’s server object have
full control permission on its own server.
If not or the object is missing, please modify the permission or click
Add, locate the computer account for the Exchange Server computer, add it to the Permissions list with full control.
Click OK, and then close ADSI Edit.
Use
Active Directory Users and Computers to add the current affected
Exchange Server computer account to the Exchange Servers(previous version should be “Exchange Domain Servers”) group in the
Microsoft Exchange Security Groups( or Users) OU. Refer to this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297295.
Restart the Exchange Server computer, then rerun the ExBPA.
For the second error message, Microsoft don’t recommend to install Exchange Server on virtual machine without additional tools, so the error message occurs. We can just ignore
this message, it will not affect the Exchange servers.
Regards, Eric Zou