I was working with a client to upgrade their Exchange 2003 from SP1 to SP2. The process is usually straightforward: you check and see if the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) is installed and uninstall it if it is, then install Exchange SP2. It’s hard to forget about the first part, because the Exchange SP2 installer will fail to install if the IMF is still installed on the server.

But what if the Exchange SP2 installer tells you that IMF is still installed, even after you uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs? Or what if you don’t see the IMF listed in Add/Remove Programs to uninstall it?

Here are a few suggestions to get around this, followed by instructions for manually removing the IMF so Exchange SP2 can install.
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