Windows 2019 DataCenter downgrade options

Dan Wages

I accidentally installed Windows 2019 DataCenter and really needed Standard. Is there a way to downgrade to standard without reinstalling the OS?

Mike Rodrick

Hey @Dan-Wages ,

Unfortunately, no. You cannot downgrade from Datacenter to Standard. You will need to reinstall Windows.

I have seen this before, and it is a pain. Hopefully you haven't done to much configuration yet.

Is this a production machine or a lab environment?

Adam Gordon

Dan,

I hope all is well. The good news is that depending on your using an officially acquired and licensed product, you can downgrade.

Take a look at the following:

https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/8/9/68964284-864d-4a6d-aed9-f2c1f8f23e14/downgrade_rights.pdf

ALL commercially licensed server software is eligible for downgrade rights.

Now, I know that what you are really after is not so much a downgrade to a different build (2019 to 2016), but rather a change in licensing within the current build 2019 DataCenter to 2019 Standard.

That is a bit different...

You can try the following, although I am not sure that it will work any longer, as it did work back in 2012/R2, but according to the current documentation, it is no longer supported:

DISM /online /Set-Edition: ServerStandard /ProductKey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX /AcceptEula

Current Documentation:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/dism-windows-edition-servicing-command-line-options

:)

Good Luck!!

Cheers,

Adam

Dan Wages

Mike - it is a pre-production servers, I had already setup Hyper-V, two node failover cluster manager and about to spin up some VMs until I was just informed that it should be standard license not DC.. d'oh!

Adam - I tried that cmd and received the following:
"Error 50 This windows image cannot upgrade to the edition of Windows that was specified"

Thanks
Dan