The Exchange Schema Updates Are Missing From Active Directory

In some cases, you’ll see the following error message during the installation of Easy365Manager:

This problem indicates that the Exchange schema update has never been installed in your on-premises Active Directory or that your current schema is Exchange 2010 or earlier.

The Active Directory schema is extended with multiple Exchange-specific attributes when you install Exchange on-premises. Some of these attributes are a vital part of mailbox management on linked accounts (Office 365 accounts synchronized from your local AD).

If you want to use Easy365Manager to manage Office 365 mailboxes and licenses as an integral part of your AD user management, your local AD must be updated with the Exchange schema extension (Exchange 2010 SP1 or later).

You don’t need an Exchange on-premises server installation, only the Active Directory schema update.

To confirm if the Exchange schema extension is missing from your domain, run the script in this article. If the Exchange schema version is less than 14726, you must update your schema with the Exchange schema extension.

How to Fix This Error

To update the Active Directory schema with the Exchange schema extension, download Exchange and run the schema extension.

If you’ve never installed Exchange, then we recommend installing the Exchange 2019 CU12 schema update.

Download Exchange 2019 CU12 here.

Mount the iso file and run the following command from the mounted drive:

Setup.exe /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms_DiagnosticDataOFF /PrepareSchema

Ensure your system has the .Net Framework 4.8 installed and that your account is a member of enterprise admins and schema admins.

If you’re currently running Exchange 2007 or 2010, then we recommend installing the Exchange 2013 CU23 schema update.

Download Exchange 2013 CU23 here.

Run the downloaded setup.exe file to extract the installation binaries. Then run the extracted setup.exe using the following parameters:

Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

Refer to the official documentation from Microsoft for more information on extending the Active Directory schema with the Exchange schema extension.

After extending your AD schema, you must reload the schema in Azure AD Connect.

Open up Azure AD connect, click Configure and select Refresh directory schema:

Azure AD Connect Schema Reload

Once the directory schema refresh has been completed, you can re-run the Easy365Manager installation.