Exchange 2003 SP2 – Error code 0xC0070643

Andy Parkes

The Exchange migration I did this week involved moving the current Exchange setup onto new hardware (we talked about Exchange 2007 / Windows Server 2008 but the client was going with the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” viewpoint combined with a tight budget!)

After I’d installed Exchange on the new hardware one of the first things I did was install Service Pack 2

I got the following error

Setup failed while installing sub-component Exchange ActiveSync with error code 0xC0070643 (please consult the installation logs for a detailed description).  You may cancel the installation or try the failed setup again.

This rang a bell and sure enough a quick look on Susan’s blog found the following posts which pointed to a registry key for the XML Parser in place that needed to be deleted

Okay I have a problem with my Exchange 2003 sp2

and

Exchange 2003 sp2 success on my home server!

and picture of the error here

Thing is this was a brand new installation. So there wasn’t anything else that had installed the XML Parser so no registry key to delete!

After a bit more digging I found this post by Colin Bowern

Exchange 2003 SP2 Install Fails because of MSXML

But my error message was different to the above and Susan’s

I basically got

Product: Microsoft XML Parser — Product Installation failed

Well thanks.

So I located the msxml3.msi file in the Exchsrvr\bin directory and tried to run it manually. I simply got the same error

Obviously the setup was trying to install using that MSI and failing so I borrowed the trick Colin mentions in his post

  • Download the Microsoft XML Parser 3.0 (Service Pack 7 is the version i used)
  • Rename the existing msxml3.msi in Exchsrvr\bin to msxml3.msi.original (or whatever works for you!)
  • Place a copy of the latest file you downloaded inside Exchsrvr\bin
  • Rename it to msxml3.msi.  This will leave you with msxml3.msi and msxml3.msi.original
  • Click Retry on the error and it should continue as planned.

    This worked for me so I’m making a note here in case I need it again!

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    Andy Parkes

    Andy Parkes is Technical Director at Coventry based IT support company IBIT Solutions. Formerly, coordinator of AMITPRO and Microsoft Partner Area Lead for 2012-2013. He also isn't a fan of describing himself in the third person.
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    3 thoughts on “Exchange 2003 SP2 – Error code 0xC0070643”

    • haha…5 years later i’m reading this.

      In my case I had to reinstall Exchange 2003 (Without service packs) to a server that had a corrupt Exchange 2003 (SP2) installation.

      I stole the MSXML3.MSI file from the setup directory of exchange and put it in the Exchsrvr\bin directory and hit retry…win

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