Exchange 2007 SP3 on Windows 2008 R2 SP2- [ERROR] An error occurred. The error code was 3221684226. The message was The system cannot find the file specified..

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
While trying to prepare AD for addition of a new exchange server following error is seen after running “Setup.com /PrepareAD” command:

[ERROR] An error occurred. The error code was 3221684226. The message was The system cannot find the file specified..

ExchangeSetup.log file will have entries similar to the following near to its end:

[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Leaving ScHavePermissionToCreateDSObject
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Configuring administrative rights
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Entering ScInstallLDIFScript
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2]  ScRunLDIFScript (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\libs\exsetup\exmisc.cxx:888)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2]  ScInstallLDIFScript (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\libs\exsetup\server.cxx:149)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Leaving ScInstallLDIFScript
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2]  CAtomOrgLevelCt::ScAddDSObjects (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\udog\exsetdata\components\server\a_orglevelct.cxx:379)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Leaving CAtomOrgLevelCt::ScAddDSObjects
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2]  CBaseAtom::ScRefreshDSObjects (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\udog\setupbase\basecomp\baseatom.cxx:1476)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2]  CAtomOrgLevelCt::ScReinstall (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\udog\exsetdata\components\server\a_orglevelct.cxx:169)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Leaving CAtomOrgLevelCt::ScReinstall
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] mode = 'Reinstall' (61955) CBaseAtom::ScSetup (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\udog\setupbase\basecomp\baseatom.cxx:535)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2]  ScSetupAtom (f:\08.03.0083\sources\dev\admin\src\udog\exsetdata\exsetds.cxx:897)
           Error code 0XC0070002 (2): The system cannot find the file specified.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] Leaving ScSetupAtom
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [2] [ERROR] An error occurred. The error code was 3221684226. The message was The system cannot find the file specified..
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] The following 1 error(s) occurred during task execution:
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] 0.  ErrorRecord: An error occurred. The error code was 3221684226. The message was The system cannot find the file specified..
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] 0.  ErrorRecord: Microsoft.Exchange.Management.Deployment.ExsetdataException: An error occurred. The error code was 3221684226. The message was The system cannot find the file specified..
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] [ERROR] An error occurred. The error code was 3221684226. The message was The system cannot find the file specified..
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] Setup is halting task execution because of one or more errors in a critical task.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] Finished executing component tasks.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [1] Ending processing.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [0] The Exchange Server Setup operation did not complete. For more information, visit http://support.microsoft.com and enter the Error ID.
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [0] End of Setup
[18/02/2013 10:36:23 AM] [0] **********************************************

(If someone starts looking at F:\08.30.0083 folder structure that will kill a lot of your time especially if that f: disk exists on the server, I didn’t even have that so I weren’t misled)

CAUSE:  While installing Exchange 2007 with SP3 on Windows 2008 R2 (x64) one needs to have Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) and Active Directory Domain Services Tools installed as features.

RESOLUTION: Following command line can be used to install the features missing:

ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS

(PS: I don’t remember using it in past for Exchange 2007 but now I have added it to my prereq batch file for Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008)