storage server 2012 r2 standard convert to server 2012 r2

Question

Hi All,

Is it even possible to convert storage server 2012 r2 standard to server 2012 r2 standard?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

According to UpgradeMatrix.xml, no

there is no upgrade path from ServerStorageStandard to ServerStandard (or vice versa)

Answer 2

Hi,

Since you are looking for an in-place conversion, I suppose you are running a physical (bare-metal) instance of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Standard. If that is the case, I highly recommend you virtualize your server instance, making future migrations and backup/restore much easier. In addition, Windows Server 2012 R2 is EOL, so it is highly recommended that you move to a more recent version, which is Windows Server 2016 (at least) or Windows Server 2022 (recommended).

A basic description of your migration routine may look like the following:

• Virtualize your existing server using Microsoft Disk2VHD https://aka.ms/disk2vhd or free V2V Converter https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-v2v-converter to some external storage (SAN, NAS, network share).
• Install Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 from scratch and enable the Hyper-V role.
• Import the previously virtualized instance and make sure everything is working.
• Spin a new Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 virtual machine and migrate everything using SMS https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-migration-service/overview.
• Remove the old instance.

I hope that helps, and good luck with your project.