Hi,
I was wondering is there an option to upgrade a domain controller that is on server 2008r2 to 2012r2 without having to reinstall?
Thanks
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Domain Controller
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What is the goal here?
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Is it move AD to 2012 server?
If this your goal, you add another server 2012, promote it an AD in your forest, let AD information replicate...you may have to run additional steps. -
Is it to upgrade 2008 to 2012?
Probably, you can follow here:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/chrisavis/2013/10/01/performing-an-in-place-upgrade-of-server-2008-r2-to-server-2012-r2/
Personally, I don't like upgrading...since any issues that existed with 2008 is probably not going to disappear with 2012R2.
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@Ronnie-Wong Thanks for the response.
Since Server 2008 End of life is in Jan 2020. I was looking into moving our DC's (3 of them) to Server 2012.
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2012r2 is a supported upgrade path for 2008r2. You can do an in-place upgrade like any other operating system. Insert the installation media, and run setup.exe. I have done this without any issues, but it is not what Microsoft recommends.
This is assuming your 2008r2 machine is 64-bit. All versions of 2012 are 64-bit, and you cannot upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit.
The recommended way would be to set up a new server running 2012r2 and add the Active Directory Domain Services role. Once replication has occurred, transfer any FSMO roles, then demote the 2008 DC.
FYI The new end-of-extended support date for Windows Server 2012 is Oct. 10, 2023
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I'm quoting Don here after a conversation we had about this...
"Upgrading DCs between any version is not supported by MS. Per Microsoft: "The recommended way to upgrade a domain is to promote domain controllers that run newer versions of Windows Server and demote older domain controllers as needed."
However, if they don't care about support then they can do an in-place upgrade as long as they are running the 64-bit version of 2008/2008r2. 32-bit upgrades are not possible"
