How to upgrade Windows 2003 Server Active Directory to Windows 2019 Server Active Directory.

Question

How to upgrade Windows 2003 Server Active Directory to Windows 2019 Server Active Directory.

It's possible and will all Users and AD login credential be preserve.

Answer 1

Hello QuickSolutionNetworksInc,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

The recommended way to upgrade Windows Server 2003 domain controllers to 2019 domain controllers is adding new 2019 server to domain and promoting this 2019 server as Domain Controller, we do not recommend performing in-place upgrade the OS of 2003 Domain Controller from 2019 to 2022.

Is your Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller also a DNS server? If so, steps below are for your reference.Step 1You should check SYSVOL replication type. If it is FRS or DFSR.

Here is checking method via registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DFSR\Parameters\SysVols\Migrating Sysvols\LocalState registry subkey. If this registry subkey exists and its value is set to 3 (ELIMINATED), DFSR is being used. If the subkey does not exist, or if it has a different value, FRS is being used.

If it is DFSR, that is OK.

If it is FRS, you should migrate from FRS to DFSR first.

For how to migrate SYSVOL from FRS to DFSR, we can refer to the following article.

qUICKLY Explained: Migrate Your SYSVOL Replication from FRS to DFSR
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/qzaidi/2012/01/16/quickly-explained-migrate-your-sysvol-replication-from-frs-to-dfsr/

Step 2

Before we do any changes to our AD environment, we had better to check our AD environment health. So we can try the following steps:

1.We need to check if all the DCs works fine, we can run Dcdiag /v on each DC to check.
2.Run Repadmin /showrepl and repadmin /replsum and repadmin /showrepl * /csv >c:\repsum.csv on all DCs to check AD replication status if you have multiple DCs in your domain.

Step 3
1.Add new 2019 server to the existing domain.

2.Promote this new 2019 server to Domain Controller (add AD DS role and DNS role).

3.Also make this new 2019 DC as GC.

4.Check the health status of new DC and old DC and AD replication status (if you have more than one DC) followed Steps 2.

5.If you have more than one Domain Controllers to migrate from lower OS level (2003) to higher OS level (2019), please repeat 1-4 within Step 3.

6.After all DCs have migrate from lower OS (2003) to higher OS (2019), transfer FSMO roles to the new 2022 DC if needed.
We can check whether you have successfully transferred the FSMO roles by running the command as administrator on any DC: netdom query fsmo
7.Raise forest functional level and domain functional level if needed.

How to raise Active Directory domain and forest functional levels:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/322692/how-to-raise-active-directory-domain-and-forest-functional-levels

8.Because old 2003 DC was a DNS server, update the DNS client configuration on all member workstations, member servers, and other DCs that might have used this DNS server for name resolution. If it is required, modify the DHCP scope to reflect the removal of the DNS server.

9.Because old 2003 DC was a DNS server, update the Forwarder settings and the Delegation settings on any other DNS servers that might have pointed to the old 2003 DC for name resolution.

10.Migrate all other roles on old 2003 DC to new 2019 DC (or other member servers) if you have or if you need.

11.After you transfer FSMO roles and update all DNS settings and migrate other roles if you have. And after a period of time, if everything is OK, we can consider demoting the old 2003 DC if needed.

Q: It's possible and will all Users and AD login credential be preserve. A: Because 2003 is no longer supported, and the situation of each AD environment is different, and the applications and functions are different, it is recommended that you test the DC migration according to the actual situation of your environment, and then check whether it is normal or whether there will be any problem.

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any question or concern, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,
Daisy Zhou