Exchange Server 2016 system requirements

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2025-05-09

APPLIES TO: yes-img-16 2016 no-img-19 2019 no-img-se Subscription Edition

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Looking for the Exchange Server 2019 and Exchange Server SE requirements? See Exchange Server 2019 and SE system requirements.

Before you install Exchange Server 2016, we recommend that you review this topic to ensure your network, hardware, software, clients, and other elements meet the requirements for Exchange 2016. Also, ensure you understand the coexistence scenarios that are supported for Exchange 2016 and earlier versions of Exchange.

To install Exchange 2016, see Deploy new installations of Exchange.

Supported coexistence scenarios for Exchange 2016

There are no earlier supported versions of Exchange Server that can coexist with Exchange Server 2016.

Supported hybrid deployment scenarios for Exchange 2016

Exchange 2016 supports hybrid deployments with Microsoft 365 organizations. For more information about specific hybrid deployments, see Hybrid Deployment Prerequisites.

Network and directory server requirements for Exchange 2016

The following table lists the requirements for the network and the directory servers in your Exchange 2016 organization:

Component	Requirement
Domain controllers	All domain controllers in the forest must be running one of the supported versions of Windows Server. A comprehensive list of supported domain controller operating systems can be found in the Exchange Server supportability matrix.
Active Directory forest	A comprehensive list of supported forest functional level can be found in the Exchange Server supportability matrix.
Active Directory site	The Active Directory site where you install the Exchange Server must contain at least one writeable domain controller that's also a global catalog server; or else, the installation will fail. Furthermore, you can't install the Exchange server and then remove the domain controller from the Active Directory site.
DNS namespace support	Exchange 2016 supports the following domain name system (DNS) namespaces: Contiguous Noncontiguous Single label domains Disjoint For more information about DNS namespaces supported by Exchange, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2269838, Microsoft Exchange compatibility with Single Label Domains, Disjoined Namespaces, and Discontiguous Namespaces.
IPv6 support	In Exchange 2016, IPv6 is supported only when IPv4 is also installed and enabled. If Exchange 2016 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.

Directory server architecture for Exchange 2016

The use of 64-bit Active Directory domain controllers increases directory service performance for Exchange 2016.

Installing Exchange 2016 on directory servers

For security and performance reasons, we recommend that you install Exchange 2016 only on member servers and not on Active Directory servers. To learn about the issues you can face when installing Exchange 2016 on a directory server, see Installing Exchange on a domain controller is not recommended [WarningInstallExchangeRolesOnDomainController]. After Exchange 2016 is installed, changing its role from a member server to a directory server, or vice versa, isn't supported.

Hardware requirements for Exchange 2016

For information about deploying Exchange in a virtualized environment, see Exchange Server virtualization.

Component	Requirement	Notes
Processor	Either of the following types of 64-bit processors: Intel processor that supports Intel 64 architecture (formerly known as Intel EM64T). AMD processor that supports the AMD64 platform. Note: Intel Itanium IA64 processors aren't supported.	For more information, see Sizing Exchange 2016 Deployments. For information on supported operating systems, see the Supported operating systems for Exchange 2016 section later in this topic.
Memory	Varies by Exchange server role: Mailbox: 8 GB minimum. Edge Transport: 4 GB minimum.	For more information, see Sizing Exchange 2016 Deployments.
Paging file size	Set the paging file minimum and maximum value to the same size: Less than 32 GB of RAM installed: Physical RAM plus 10 MB, up to a maximum value of 32 GB (32,778MB). 32 GB or more of RAM installed: 32 GB plus 10 MB (32,778MB)	None
Disk space	At least 30 GB of free space on the drive where you're installing Exchange, plus an additional 500 MB for each Unified Messaging (UM) language pack that you plan to install. At least 200 MB of free space on the System drive. At least 500 MB of free space on the drive that contains the message queue database.	For more information, see Sizing Exchange 2016 Deployments.
Drive	DVD-ROM drive, local or network accessible.	None
Screen resolution	1024 x 768 pixels (XGA) or higher	None
File format	NTFS: Required on partitions that contain the following types of files: The System partition. Exchange binaries. Files generated by Exchange diagnostic logging. Transport database files (for example, the mail queue database). ReFS: Supported on partitions that contain the following types of Exchange files: Mailbox databases. Transaction logs. Content indexing files.	None

Supported operating systems for Exchange 2016

A comprehensive list of supported operating systems can be found in the Exchange Server supportability matrix.

Important: We don't support the installation of Exchange 2016 on a computer that's running Windows Server Core or Nano Server. The Windows Server Desktop Experience feature needs to be installed. To install Exchange 2016, you need to do one of the following steps to install the Desktop Experience on Windows Server prior to starting Exchange 2016 Setup:

Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2: Run the following command in Windows PowerShell:
```
Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra,Server-Gui-Shell -Restart
```
Windows Server 2016: Install Windows Server 2016 and choose the Desktop Experience installation option. If a computer is running Windows Server 2016 Core mode and you want to install Exchange 2016 on it, you'll need to reinstall the operating system and choose the Desktop Experience installation option.

Supported Windows Management Framework versions for Exchange 2016

Exchange 2016 only supports the version of Windows Management Framework that's built in to 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.

Installing other software on Exchange 2016 servers

We don't support installing Office clients or other Office server products (for example, SharePoint Server, Skype for Business Server, Office Online Server, or Project Server) on Exchange 2016 servers. Software that you want to install on an Exchange 2016 server need to be designed to run on the same computer as Exchange Server.

Supported .NET Framework versions for Exchange 2016

We recommend that you use the latest version of .NET Framework that's supported by the release of Exchange you're installing.

A comprehensive list of supported .NET Framework versions can be found in the Exchange Server supportability matrix.

Supported clients (with latest updates) in Exchange 2016

A comprehensive list of supported email clients can be found in the Exchange Server supportability matrix.

Exchange third-party clients

Exchange Server offers several well-known protocols, and publishes APIs that third-party vendors often write clients for.

Microsoft makes no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the overall suitability, fitness, compatibility, or security of clients that are created by third-party developers.

If you want to use a third-party client that uses our protocols or APIs, we recommend that you thoroughly review and test all considerations (functionality, security, maintenance, management, and so on) before you deploy the client in the enterprise workspace. We also recommend that you ensure that the third-party vendor offers an appropriate Enterprise Support Agreement (ESA).

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