Today after a virus cleanup and a restart of a Windows 2003 Server with Exchange 2003 SP2, we found that the c:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin directory was missing, Exchange Services could not be started and Microsoft Exchange Information Store service was missing.
Running an undelete software we found out that (even if not mentioned on its log file) the antivirus actually deleted the files.
At this point, we had not yet noticed that the Information Store service was missing.
In order to try to fix the problem (which would probably be a very good solution if the service was not missing), we downloaded the Service Pack 2 and extracted its contents. We then took the /bin directory from SP2 Setup files and placed it to the Exchange setup folder.
As the Service Pack does not include all the directory files but only those which have been changed due to the hot fixes, we also copied all contents from the installation DVD /bin directory to the c:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin.
At this point, all Exchange related service started with success but we then noticed that the Information Store store service was missing.
In order to fix this issue, we had to run Exchange setup with Disaster Recovery switch (setup /disasterrecovery) which did restore several files, registry entries and the desired service. Everything was back to normal after the setup finish.
Before doing any of the above, a backup (at least the databases .stm & .edb files) is mandatory!
In any case, as long as you have the .stm & .edb files of an exchange 2003, 2007, 2010, don’t panic! Feel free to contact us if you need any help!
