Share via

Updating Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard to 2019 R2 Standar

Ingrid Dolci 1 Reputation point
2020-08-04T14:08:48.077+00:00

Good morning!

Recently we bought the Windows Server 2019 RS Standard to update our server which is installed the 2008 R2 Standar version. There is any possibility to update the 2008 R2 version directly to 2019 R2?
I found a Microsoft post saying we should to update 2008 R2 to 2012 R2 and after 2012 R2 to 2019 R2, but my doubt is: Do I need to buy a 2012 R2 license to do this??
The post i found is: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/how-to-in-place-upgrade-windows-server-2008-r2-to-windows-server/ba-p/752330

Windows Server
Windows Server
A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.
12,590 questions
0 comments

4 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-08-04T15:13:09.207+00:00

    To answer the question; yes you'll need licensed media in order to perform an in-place upgrade and the interim steps would need to be activated before continuing the next step in upgrade process. Better option is to clean install Sever 2019, patch fully then migrate the roles or applications over to it.

    --please don't forget to Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

  2. Adam J. Marshall 9,121 Reputation points MVP
    2020-08-04T16:05:19.307+00:00

    You'll need media for the hop upgrade, but if you purchased 2019, you have downgrade rights. You don't need to activate each version before upgrading to 2019 either. In-place upgrades have come a LONG way since 2008 and are very good now.

    0 comments
  3. Joy Qiao 4,886 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2020-08-05T08:20:40.233+00:00

    Hi,

    There is no need to buy Windows Server 2012 R2 activation product key.
    Microsoft provides n-2 versions of Windows on their VLSC/MVLS sites. So we could activate Windows Server 2012 R2 with Windows Server 2019 product key. There is a downgrade chart below for Windows Server 2019.

    15700-capture.png

    But we not recommend to upgrade as you might encounter potential risk such as compatibility between driver, third party software and system or others system file corruption which will cause upgrade failure. We are more recommend to perform clean installation Windows Server 2019 and migrate server roles to it.

    I found some related official article which related with installation and migration, please check if they are useful for you.

    Migrating roles and features in Windows Server

    Use Storage Migration Service to migrate a server

    Windows Server installation and upgrade

  4. Wenbin 196 Reputation points
    2020-08-12T02:25:23.56+00:00

    I think 2012R2 more stable

    0 comments