When installing Exchange 2010 from my Technet subscription to find out all new and exciting features in this release, there are some things you have to take care of before the installer installs the software. I Installed the software on a Server 2008 R2 64 bit that is also a DC (Domain Controller)/ Active Directory server. I tried to install it on a a vitual machine that is not a DC, but this did not work, I had to install Active Directory. Futhermore IIS needs to be installed with IIS 6.0 features. You have to add the IIS 6.0 compatibility features to your server with server manager.

Here are some of the errors I had during install since not all prerequired features were met in my server 2008 installation:

^{Client Access Role Prerequisites
Failed
Error:
Unable to read data from the Metabase. Ensure that Microsoft Internet Information Services is installed.
Recommended Action: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=30939&l=en&v=ExBPA.4&id=a4a4d339-4009-4fb7-b842-ca2ba79f13f0
Error:
Unable to access the 'Default Web Site' on this computer.
Recommended Action: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=30939&l=en&v=ExBPA.4&id=aadc8176-1c47-49b7-83a0-9493a1093af1
Elapsed Time: 00:00:04
Mailbox Role Prerequisites
Failed
Error:
Unable to read data from the Metabase. Ensure that Microsoft Internet Information Services is installed.
Recommended Action: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=30939&l=en&v=ExBPA.4&id=a4a4d339-4009-4fb7-b842-ca2ba79f13f0
Elapsed Time: 00:00:04}

If you experiece the following error during install:

The start mode for the Net. TCP Port Sharing service must be set to Automatic before Setup can continue

you need torun the following command in Windows Powershell (thx to http://exchangeblogger.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/the-start-mode-for-the-net-tcp-port-sharing-service-must-be-set-to-automatic-before-setup-can-continue/)

Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic