Learn about the Exchange 2013 requirements that you need to know before you install Exchange 2013. For example, you'll learn about the hardware, network, and operating system requirements.
Before you install Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, we recommend that you review this topic to ensure that your network, hardware, software, clients, and other elements meet the requirements for Exchange 2013. In addition, make sure you understand the coexistence scenarios that are supported for Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange.
Supported coexistence scenarios
The following table lists the scenarios in which coexistence between Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange is supported.
Coexistence of Exchange 2013 and earlier versions of Exchange Server
Exchange version
Exchange organization coexistence
Exchange Server 2003 and earlier versions
Not supported
Exchange 2007
Supported with the following minimum versions of Exchange:
Update Rollup 10 for Exchange 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) on all Exchange 2007 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.1
Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 2 (CU2) or later on all Exchange 2013 servers in the organization.
Exchange 2010
Supported with the following minimum versions of Exchange:
Exchange 2010 SP3 on all Exchange 2010 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers).2
Exchange 2013 CU2 or later on all Exchange 2013 servers in the organization.
Mixed Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007 organization
Supported with the following minimum versions of Exchange:
Update Rollup 10 for Exchange 2007 SP3 on all Exchange 2007 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.1
Exchange 2010 SP3 on all Exchange 2010 servers in the organization, including Edge Transport servers.2
Exchange 2013 CU2 or later on all Exchange 2013 servers in the organization.
1 If you want to create an EdgeSync Subscription between an Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server and an Exchange 2013 SP1 Edge Transport server, you need to install Exchange 2007 SP3 Update Rollup 13 or later on the Exchange 2007 Hub Transport server.
2 If you want to create an EdgeSync Subscription between an Exchange 2010 Hub Transport server and an Exchange 2013 SP1 Edge Transport server, you need to install Exchange 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 5 or later on the Exchange 2010 Hub Transport server.
Supported hybrid deployment scenarios
Exchange 2013 supports hybrid deployments with Microsoft 365 or Office 365 organizations that have been upgraded to the latest version of Microsoft 365 or Office 365. For more information about specific hybrid deployments, see Hybrid deployment prerequisites.
Network and directory servers
The following table lists the requirements for the network and the directory servers in your Exchange 2013 organization.
Component
Requirement
Schema master
By default, the schema master runs on the first Active Directory domain controller installed in a forest. The schema master must be running one of the following:
Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter3
Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
Global catalog server
In each Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange 2013, you must have at least one global catalog server running one of the following:
Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter3
Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
In each Active Directory site where you plan to install Exchange 2013, you must have at least one writeable domain controller running one of the following:
Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter3
Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise SP1 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RTM or later
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or later (32-bit or 64-bit)
Active Directory forest
Active Directory must be at Windows Server 2003 forest functionality mode or higher.2
DNS namespace support
Exchange 2013 supports the following domain name system (DNS) namespaces:
Contiguous
Noncontiguous
Single label domains
Disjoint
For more information about DNS namespaces supported by Exchange, see KB2269838.
IPv6 support
In Exchange 2013, IPv6 is supported only when IPv4 is also installed and enabled. If Exchange 2013 is deployed in this configuration, and the network supports IPv4 and IPv6, all Exchange servers can send data to and receive data from devices, servers, and clients that use IPv6 addresses. For more information, see IPv6 support in Exchange 2013.
1 Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 are supported only with Exchange 2013 SP1 or later.
2 Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 forest functionality mode is supported only with Exchange 2013 SP1 or later.
3 Windows Server 2022 is supported only with Exchange Server 2013 CU23 or later.
Directory server architecture
The use of 64-bit Active Directory domain controllers increases directory service performance for Exchange 2013.
For security and performance reasons, we recommend that you install Exchange 2013 only on member servers and not on Active Directory directory servers. However, you can't run DCPromo on a computer running Exchange 2013. After Exchange 2013 is installed, changing its role from a member server to a directory server, or vice versa, isn't supported.
Hardware
The recommended hardware requirements for Exchange 2013 servers vary depending on a number of factors including the server roles that are installed and the anticipated load that will be placed on the servers.
x64 architecture-based computer with Intel processor that supports Intel 64 architecture (formerly known as Intel EM64T)
AMD processor that supports the AMD64 platform
Intel Itanium IA64 processors not supported
See the Operating system section later in this topic for supported operating systems.
Memory
Varies depending on Exchange roles that are installed:
Mailbox: 8GB minimum
Client Access: 4GB minimum
Mailbox and Client Access combined: 8GB minimum
Edge Transport: 4GB minimum
None.
Paging file size
The page file size minimum and maximum must be set to physical RAM plus 10 MB, to a maximum size of 32778MB if you're using more than 32GB of RAM.
For detailed pagefile recommendations, see Pagefile.
Disk space
At least 30 GB on the drive on which you install Exchange
An additional 500 MB of available disk space for each Unified Messaging (UM) language pack that you plan to install
200 MB of available disk space on the system drive
A hard disk that stores the message queue database on with at least 500 MB of free space.
For detailed information on storage recommendations, see Exchange 2013 storage configuration options.
Drive
DVD-ROM drive, local or network accessible
None.
Screen resolution
1024 x 768 pixels or higher
None.
File format
Disk partitions formatted as NTFS file systems, which applies to the following partitions:
System partition
Partitions that store Exchange binary files or files generated by Exchange diagnostic logging
Disk partitions containing the following types of files can be formatted as ReFS:
Partitions containing transaction log files
Partitions containing database files
Partitions containing content indexing files
None.
Operating system
The following table lists the supported operating systems for Exchange 2013.
Important
We don't support the installation of Exchange 2013 on a computer that's running in Windows Server Core mode. The computer must be running the full installation of Windows Server.
If you want to install Exchange 2013 on a computer that's running in Windows Server Core mode, you must convert the server to a full installation of Windows Server by doing one of the following steps:
Windows Server 2008 R2: Reinstall Windows Server and select the Full Installation option.
Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2012: Convert your Windows Server Core mode server to a full installation by running the following command:
Mailbox, Client Access, and Edge Transport server roles
One of the following:
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
Management tools
One of the following:
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter1
Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with SP1
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter RTM or later
64-bit edition of Windows 8.12
64-bit edition of Windows 8
64-bit edition of Windows 7 with Service Pack 1
1 Windows Server 2012 R2 is supported only with Exchange 2013 SP1 or later.
2 Windows 8.1 is supported only with Exchange 2013 SP1 or later.
Supported Windows Management Framework versions for Exchange 2013
Exchange 2013 only supports the version of Windows Management Framework that's built into the release of Windows that you're installing Exchange on. Don't install versions of Windows Management Framework that are made available as stand-alone downloads on servers running Exchange.
.NET Framework
We strongly recommend that you use the latest version of .NET Framework that's supported by the release of Exchange you're installing.
Exchange 2013 version
.NET Framework 4.8
.NET Framework 4.7.2
.NET Framework 4.7.1
.NET Framework 4.6.2
CU23
X
X
CU21, CU22
X
X
CU19, CU20
X
X
CU16, CU17, CU18
X
CU15
X
Supported clients
Exchange 2013 supports the following versions of Outlook and Entourage for Mac:
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
Outlook 2019
Outlook 2016
Outlook 2013
Outlook 2010
Outlook 2007
Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition
Outlook for Mac for Office 365
Outlook for Mac 2011
For a list of Outlook releases that Exchange supports, see Outlook Updates.
Important
We strongly recommend that you install the latest available service packs and updates available so that your users receive the best possible experience when connecting to Exchange.
Outlook clients earlier than Outlook 2007 are not supported. Email clients on Mac operating systems that require DAV, such as Entourage 2008 for Mac RTM and Entourage 2004, are not supported.
This module introduces the different editions of Windows, the features of each, and describes why and when you might select a specific Windows edition. This module also covers methods for installations.
Plan and execute an endpoint deployment strategy, using essential elements of modern management, co-management approaches, and Microsoft Intune integration.