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Single-label Domain Names and Exchange Server 2007 SP1

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The_Exchange_Team
Platinum Contributor
Jan 18, 2008

EDIT 9/22/2008: The support policy for installing Exchange Server 2007 in an SLD environment has changed, and is now supported. Please go here and read it for follow-up on this situation. If you attempt to install Exchange 2007 SP1 into an Active Directory forest containing a single-label domain name (e.g. "Contoso" instead of "Contoso.com"), you'll get this error message:

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 setup cannot continue because this computer belongs to a domain that has a single-labeled DNS name. DNS domain name: XYZ
As the Exchange 2007 SP1 release notes state:
"Exchange 2007 is not supported in environments that use single-label DNS names. Single-label DNS names are DNS names that do not contain a suffix such as .com, .corp, .net, or .org. Exchange 2007 SP1 Setup performs a prerequisite check and will not continue if your environment includes single-label DNS names. For more information about single-label DNS names, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 300684, Information about configuring Windows for domains with single-label DNS names".
The prerequisite checks built into Exchange 2007 SP1 setup look for this condition and, if found, Setup blocks the installation with the aforementioned error. While the RTM version of Exchange 2007 also does not support single-label domains, the RTM version of Setup did not block installation into environments containing single-label domain names. With Exchange 2007 SP1, Setup does block installation into a single-label domain. This prereq check is an example of us increasing the amount of things that are checked prior to installations in order to prevent customers from getting into unsupported scenarios. You can expect this trend to continue. An unintended side effect of the SP1 single-label domain check is that if you installed Exchange 2007 RTM into a single-label domain you are now unable to upgrade to Exchange 2007 SP1. Additionally, attempting to rename your Exchange 2007 domain is not an option because Exchange 2007 does not support domain rename. For some details as to why domain rename is not supported, see the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service does not start on a computer that is running Exchange Server 2007 after you rename a Windows Server 2003 domain. What We're Doing about this? We realize that the new SP1 single-label domain prereq is blocking upgrades. We're actively investigating any issues associated with installing Exchange 2007 SP1 into a single-label domain to see if anything can be done about them. We'll update you on our findings and recommended courses of action on this blog when our investigation is complete. You can expect to hear back from us by February 15, 2008 on this blog. We also ask that you tell us a little about your environment, if you have a single-label domain and are blocked in your upgrade to Exchange 2007 SP1:
  1. How many domains do you have?
  2. Is the single-label domain a root domain or a child domain?
  3. Does your single-label domain already contain Exchange servers? If so, what version of Exchange?
  4. Do you have Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 servers installed in your single-label domain?
You can post replies as comments to this blog post, or if you prefer to keep your answers confidential, please send them to edbeck AT microsoft DOT com. Please use "My SLD Topology" for the subject, if possible! - Ed Beck
Updated Jul 01, 2019
Version 2.0

58 Comments

  • 1.) 1 Domain
    2.) Root Domain
    3.) Yes, Exchange 2007 RTM
    4.) No, Exchange 2003 Server was removed.

    Thank you for looking into a resolution for this problem.
  • "This prereq check is an example of us increasing the amount of things that are checked prior to installations in order to prevent customers from getting into unsupported scenarios."

    LOL that's funny!! just thought I'd repost it.....  Hilarious...

    Ed, you must be a manager!
  • Dave - when you say that you are "not ready to make the jump to 2008" are you referring to Windows Server 2008 or did you mean Exchange Server 2007?
  • I have a customer that all what you asked for:

    1. They have one domain
    2. forest root
    3. Yes, Exchange 2003 SP2 Active/Passive cluster
    4. Yes, Exchange 2007 CCR cluster with two Hub/CAS servers (4 additional servers)

    I have everything working correctly, but I'm glad I read this before attempting to upgrade them to SP1, that would've driven me crazy. - Eagerly waiting your workaround.
  • I'm running a 2003 SLD that I inherited. I'm not ready to make the jump to 2008 yet, but I assume that this will be an issue when I am ready.  I work for a small business. 2 sites, 100 employees....one IT guy.   I'd like to NOT have to create a new domain and migrate all my users, so I probably will not make the upgrade if that will be required.

    1.  one domain
    2.  forest root
    3.  Yes, Ex2003 SP2
    4.  See above
  • Hello Ed, thank you for showing us about this blog.  A lot of us have been in the dark about what to do for about a month.  I was told that the only solution was to start over (rename domain and reinstall E2K7).  Obviously, it is something that I want to avoid.  I'm lucky that I have a very small environment, but others have large complex forests to deal with.  Here are the answers to the questions given above.

    1.  We have 1 domain
    2.  It is a forest root domain
    3.  Prior to installing E2K7, the domain has never had any Exchange Servers.  We currenly have one Windows Server 2003 DC.
    4.  See #3.  

    I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys.  A fix for this would make my life a billion times better!
  • yyz,

    No, those are just examples. The domain that does not have the "dot" and something behind it is a single-label DNS name domain (SLD). So "contoso" would be a SLD. "Contoso.local" or .int or ."anything" would not.
  • Ed-

    Does this mean that .lan or .local domains are considered single-label domains since according to the fine print "DNS names that do not contain a suffix such as .com, .corp, .net, .org or companyname are considered to be single-label DNS names."?