Upgrade of Windows 2008 R2 Standard to Windows 2012 R2 Standard fails

Question

We have a Windows 2008 R2 Standard server running SQL 2008 databases. It is a development server hosting a large number of databases and SSIS packages and hence our interest in upgrading. We are trying to upgrade the server to Windows 2012 R2 Standard as a first step and then to Windows 2016.

The upgrade fails with a message "WIndows 2008 R2 Standard cannot be upgraded to WIndows Server 2012 R2 Standard...". It suggests
Turn off these Windows features.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - Please read Microsoft Knowledge Base article: 962216.

The KB article 962216 suggests applying the Service Pack for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. I have applied Service Pack3 and some security updates as well, but the problem persists.

I appreciate very much any suggestions you may have for resolution. Regards

Answer 1

Hi @Raghu Raghuram ,

The KB article doesn't state that it applies to Windows Server 2012 R2, only Windows Server 2012 (non-R2), so I believe you might have to turn the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 feature off, or uninstall it, then try performing the upgrade again (might require a reboot).

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(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Best regards,
Leon

Answer 2

Thanks Leon. Your response was helpful and led me back to Windows Update and not being able to turn the feature off. Have applied a Windows Update patch from the link below and Windows Update is now working. Will update shortly.

https://learn.microsoft.com/tr-TR/troubleshoot/windows-client/deployment/update-windows-update-agent