Installing CU3 for Exchange 2013

Installing cumulative update 3 for exchange 2013 is a relatively simple affair, you need to ensure that you have rebooted the exchange server since the previous install of CU2  or when you try to install CU3 you will be told to restart your server first. I had to do 3 restarts of my server before it would allow me to install CU3.

The first thing that you need to do in unpack the CU3 file, do so at a location of your choice before continuing to the next stage.

Now go to the location where you unpacked the files for CU3 (Mine is called CU3) and look for setup and click on it. You will see a command box pop up briefly and then nothing for a few minutes, but dont worry, you will eventually see the welcome to CU3 box to start the install process

Next you can start the install process for CU3. The first thing you will see is the check for update box, allow the check to run and then when it doesn't find anything (which is normally the case) click next to take you to the next stage

Once the checks are completed, you will be prompted to continue with the update, click on next to continue the install.

The setup will now do a series of checks to see if the server is ready to be upgraded, if it passes the checks you will see the license agreement as below

It is at this stage that the update will prompt you to restart your server if it hasn't done so since the last CU2 update and like I stated earlier, it may prompt you to do so several times, bear with it and do what it request and it will eventually take you to the next and final part of the install.

The final stage will take some time to complete, once it has completed, don't forget to reboot your server. If you have a DAG, you need to install the update on all nodes and and CAS servers that are part of the array and don't forget to restart these too!