Today we are announcing the latest set of Cumulative Updates for Exchange Server 2016 and Exchange Server 2013. These releases include fixes to customer reported issues and updated functionality. Exc...
Updated Jul 01, 2019
Version 2.0
Blog Post
"Since Exchange Server 2013, the Windows feature Media Foundation has appeared as a pre-requisite in our setup checks on Windows Server 2012 and later"
If the "Media Foundation" feature is the same thing as Server-Media-Foundation and that pre-req has been in place since Exchange 2013 , why doesn't this appear under the list of features to install via Install-WindowsFeature on the Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2016 pre-reqs page? ( https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.150).aspx , https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.160).aspx )
- @sime3000 - Exchange Server 2013 still includes Windows Server 2008R2 as a supported operating system where the feature does not exist. Windows Server 2012 was still relatively new when Exchange Server 2013 was released with low adoption. To simplify the support story for admins at the time of release, we chose to publish a single list of pre-reqs. Exchange Server 2016 only supports Windows Server 2012 and later where the feature does exist. We are choosing to update the pre-reqs for Exchange Server 2016 now to better align with the supported operating systems and security requirements. We believe customers will have a better experience using Windows Server 2012 and later with Exchange Server 2013 as well. We adjusted Exchange Server 2013 installation so that customers on Windows Server 2012 and later could also benefit from having to install fewer security patches. Documentation updates are being worked on. It is not unusual for us to announce changes like this on the blog ahead of documentation updates so that customers can start benefiting sooner.
- Thanks for taking the time to respond.
I'm not sure if you understood my question - I sure didn’t understand the response. I wasn't asking about anything to do with Windows 2008 R2.
My question is specific to Windows 2012 and later.
This blog post states that “Since Exchange Server 2013, the Windows feature Media Foundation has appeared as a pre-requisite in our setup checks on Windows Server 2012 and later”
If you look at the Exchange prereqs for Windows 2012 on this page https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.150)#Anchor_2 , the Install-WindowsFeature command doesn't include "Server-Media-Foundation" and never has afaik. Why not? Doesn't make sense to me if this is a pre-requisite.
Install-WindowsFeature AS-HTTP-Activation, Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework-45-Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface, RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45, Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation, RSAT-ADDS
- Definitely a comprehension problem.
The answer was:
- Exchange Server 2013 supports Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn't have a valid "Media Foundation" (Server-Media-Foundation) role
- Therefore, to simplify documentation, there is a single list of prerequisite server roles that is valid for Server 2008 R2, 2012 and 2012 R2
- Exchange Server 2016 supports Server 2012 at a minimum so it does include this in its documentation
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354%28v=exchg.160%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396#WS2012
I think it's a little confusing as the Exchange Server 2013 documentation has separate "2012 and 2012 R2" and "2008 R2" sections.
Regardless, the reason the Media Foundation role isn't in the prerequisites and it still works is because Media Foundation is a prerequisite for the Desktop Experience role. When you install Desktop Experience, Media Foundation is automatically installed too.
You can test this by running the following PowerShell command:
Install-WindowsFeature Desktop-Experience -WhatIf
You'll see that it would install Media Foundation as part of the process.