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Upgrading Windows Server 2008 R2 without media

  • Article

Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a new command-line utility, DISM, the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool. One of DISM’s many useful features is the ability to use its edition-servicing commands to upgrade an R2 installation without requiring install media. This is functionally equivalent to Windows Anytime Upgrade in a Windows 7 client install, and can be performed on both an online or offline image, and on both full Server and Server Core installations.

 

Upgrades using the edition servicing method are quick, and don’t require a full reinstall of the operating system. Deployed roles and features, and other characteristics (machine name, user and admin accounts, etc) are persisted forward. Because the target editions are staged within the image, only the updates necessary to move from edition to the next are applied.

 

The upgrade options are limited to edition families, and are irreversible – you can’t downgrade once you’ve gone up an edition. Additionally, you can’t move from full Server to Server Core (or vice versa).

 

The supported upgrade paths are:

 

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard -> Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise -> Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Server Core -> Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Server Core -> Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Server Core

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation -> Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

 

The tool essential for this process, DISM.exe, is included in every installation of Windows Server 2008 R2, and the general usage for online and offline use is documented on TechNet here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744380(WS.10).aspx

 

One scenario that we sometimes use internally is the online upgrading of Hyper-V hosts. If you decide that you want to move from Enterprise’s 4 VM limit to Datacenter’s support for an unlimited number of VMs, you can migrate the VMs to another host, upgrade the old host in less than thirty minutes, and then immediately migrate the VMs back once the process is complete. There’s no need to take the whole server offline or rebuild from scratch.

 

The syntax for DISM is fairly straightforward. From an elevated command prompt, you can query for the current edition, for possible target editions, and initiate the upgrade. To upgrade, you need to provide a valid 25-character product key for the edition to which you’re upgrading.

 

To determine the installed edition, run:

DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition

To check the possible target editions, run:

DISM /online /Get-TargetEditions

Finally, to initiate an upgrade, run:

DISM /online /Set-Edition:<edition ID> /ProductKey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

So, for example, to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter from a downlevel edition, you would run:

DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /productkey:ABCDE-ABCDE-ABCDE-ABCDE-ABCDE

 

After running the /Set-Edition command, DISM will prepare the operating system for the edition servicing operation, then reboot twice while it applies the changes to the operating system. After the final reboot, you’ll be running the new edition!  

 

UPDATE: One important note, as I'm reminded by Xaegr in the comments, is that the server can't be a DC at the time of upgrade. If you demote a DC using dcpromo, you can upgrade, then re-promote it (you may need to migrate FSMO roles, etc, in order to succesfully demote.)

 

Definitely let me know if you have questions about particular details – we’re excited that this functionality is now available.

 

thanks,

Brendan

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Xaegr, Unfortunately, I forgot to post one important caveat to the process - the machine can't be a DC.   If you demote it first, the upgrade should succeed.  Once it finishes, you can promote the machine again. I'll edit the original post to add that information, but definitely let me know if that succeeds?  Sorry for the inconvenience. Brendan

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Brendan, I have a Win2K8R2 Enterprise OEM system that I would like to in-place upgrde to Win2K8R2 Datacenter Edition using a VLK. Is this possible? Would I need to use slmgr.vbs to change the installed product key from OEM to VLK, first, and then use DISM to upgrade from Enterprise VLK to Datacenter Edition VLK? Cheers, David.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    My server shows below error C:Usersadministrator>DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerEnterprise /ProductKey:489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3YDeployment Image Servicing and Management toolVersion: 6.1.7600.16385Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385Error: 50Setting an Edition is not supported with online images.The DISM log file can be found at C:WindowsLogsDISMdism.log.But my server not a DC, only file server role installed. Any suggestion?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Can you determine if the server is a retail or volume license?  If so, can you change it as well?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi! Can you upgrade a Hyper-V Server 2008R2 to a "normal" Windows Server Standard Core Server ? Thank you Christian

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hello Brendan! I finally got the opportunity to test this great feature, but it isnt working for some reason. I have Windows Server 2008 R2 Standart x64, Full installation, RTM. There are domain controller, certificate authority, and hyper-v roles (I know, this isnt recommended, but this is my home lab) and some other minor roles. Here is output from DCIM (running with elevated privilegies): PS D:> dism /online /get-currentedition Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Current edition is: Current Edition : ServerStandard The operation completed successfully. PS D:> dism /online /get-targeteditions Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Editions that can be upgraded to: Target Edition : ServerDataCenter Target Edition : ServerEnterprise The operation completed successfully. Looks fine, but when I try to actually upgrade (using the real key of course) I got error: PS D:> dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerEnterprise /ProductKey:12345-12345-12345-12345-12345 Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385 Error: 50 Setting an Edition is not supported with online images. The DISM log file can be found at C:WindowsLogsDISMdism.log I also tried DataCenter with no luck. Here is lines from log that looks related to problem: 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Info                  DISM   DISM Provider Store: PID=2960 Getting Provider Edition Manager - CDISMProviderStore::GetProvider 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Info                  DISM   DISM Provider Store: PID=2960 Provider has previously been initialized.  Returning the existing instance. - CDISMProviderStore::Internal_GetProvider 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Info                  DISM   DISM Transmog Provider: PID=2960 Current image session is [ONLINE] - CTransmogManager::GetMode 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Info                  DISM   DISM Transmog Provider: PID=2960 Current image session is [ONLINE] - CTransmogManager::GetMode 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Info                  DISM   DISM Transmog Provider: PID=2960 GetProductType: ProductType = [LanmanNT] - CTransmogManager::GetProductType 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Error                 DISM   DISM Transmog Provider: PID=2960 Setting an Edition is not supported online. - CTransmogManager::ExecuteCmdLine 2009-11-20 19:18:13, Error                 DISM   DISM Transmog Provider: PID=2960 [Upgrading system]: Setting an Edition is not supported with online images. If you drop me a message to xaegr ат yandex dоt ru i can send you a full log file or other additional information. Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi everyone, MAK keys map to multiple editions, so the underlying infrastructure doesn't accept them.  If you use the generic KMS client key, as Matthew suggests, that will allow you to proceed with the upgrade, and then you can either replace the key with a valid MAK post-upgrade or just use the KMS client key to activate against your internal KMS server. The full list of KMS client keys can be found here on technet:  technet.microsoft.com/.../ff793406.aspx It's important to note that you need to use a KMS client key, rather than a KMS host key.  The latter is what's used to configure and activate the KMS (and is specific to that one KMS install), while the former is generic to every client of a KMS. thanks, Brendan

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Luke, The easiest way to determine what channel (Retail, OEM, or one of the Volume License options) you're currently using is to run, from an elevated command prompt, the "slmgr.vbs" script that's embedded in the product. "slmgr.vbs /dlv" will give you the detailed license view, and in the description section, you'll see what channel you've got deployed.  slmgr.vbs works remotely as well, so you can point it at any server that you have admin credentials for. If you want to swap a product key, you can use slmgr.vbs to handle that as well:  the /upk switch uninstalls a key, while /ipk installs one. Let me know if you have any trouble? Brendan

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Can this feature be run on a 2008 R2 Standard machine that already has SP1 installed?  I'm wanting to move it to Enterprise.

  • Anonymous
    May 31, 2010
    Doesn't work for me. I have tried 20 plus supposedly valid keys from our VLK site for W2K8 R2 STD/ENT to try and upgrade a R2 Std server to Ent. I tried all my MAK and KMS keys. I ran the .vbs script which told me I had a KMS install. Do I now have to ring MS Customer Support?

  • Anonymous
    June 02, 2010
    MartinS, i had the same issue, but i was able to get by it by using the Generic 2008R2 keys for KMS Enterprise

  • Anonymous
    June 17, 2010
    Hi Matt. What do you meen by generic key? Is it the product ID (numbers generated after KMS activation)? I tried to use these from my Standard 2008R2 activation when trying to upgrade from DISM, but no luck. I do not have any W2KR2 Enterprise as of now, this is the first.

  • Anonymous
    June 30, 2010
    The generic KMS client key for Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise is  489J6-VHDMP-X63PK-3K798-CPX3Y If you do the upgrade with that key, it will work. Just google KMS Client Keys and follow the bouncing ball.

  • Anonymous
    November 20, 2010
    GDism ELDI last version in: heldigard.blogspot.com/.../gdism-eldi.html

  • Anonymous
    February 22, 2011
    Hi Brendan, Good staff. Very helpful. The machine can't be a DC. What can you say about Exchange 2010 SP1 on Windows 2008 R2 Standard that need to be upgraded to Enterprise? Thanks

  • Anonymous
    February 24, 2011
    I followed these instructions and am now unable to install Server 2008 R2 SP1!  I've posted to the TN forums.. happened on multiple VM's social.technet.microsoft.com/.../e5ab00b9-9efe-44e1-bb66-5492028d5967

  • Anonymous
    March 07, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 15, 2011
    We have two Dell R710 servers running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard Edition. Each server runs several Hyper-V VMs, some running Windows Server 2003 R2 SP1 and some Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Can we safely upgrade the host systems to Datacenter using this procedure after shutting down all the VMs but without removing them? Exporting and removing the VMs would take too much time and disk space and would make this impossible for us. Thanks in advance.

  • Anonymous
    April 05, 2011
    I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 (Standard Edition).  I've issued the command with the generic license key to move the server to enterprise edition: dism /online /set-edition:ServerEnterprise /set-productkey:{generic key}.   What I get is the Error 50 - the product key is not supported with online images. I'm wanting to upgrade my inplace, and apply my enterprise licenses keys after the fact.   Any ideas?

  • Anonymous
    April 14, 2011
    Hey John, I suppose it's the same issue which has been mentioned above, your Server cannot be a DC during the upgrade. You have to demote the DC first. t_d

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2011
    We have a Windows 2008 R2 Standard Edition VM running SQL 2008 R2 in production which we need to upgrade to Enterprise Edition because we're pushing against the 4 VCPU limit.   Our virtual environment is Citrix XenCenter 5.6 FR 1.   This VM is not a domain controller.     Are there any landmines I should be aware of, or can we be fairly confident that this will work for us? Thanks, Andre

  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2011
    This migration killed our two dedicated servers (Dell PowerEdge R410). We migrated from Standard to Enterprise since we had 48 GB of memory on these machine. Standard Edition only supports 32GB. Remote Desktop Connection started to not working. Then network problems on the GB Network, then IIS problems, etc. We now have to reformat these two servers, and be sure we will install Enterprise Edition directly. Daniel

  • Anonymous
    June 01, 2011
    Does this procedure work on Windows 2008 systems as well?

  • Anonymous
    July 07, 2011
    @TM: This feature came with 2008 R2/ Windows 7, so it wont work with 2008 :(

  • Anonymous
    September 09, 2011
    We recently installed Exchange 2010 + SP1 onto Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (64-bit) but in order to create and use the DAG feature of Exchange 2010 we need it to be running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (64-bit) . It is not a DC - rather it is dedicated to Exchange 2010. Is it ok to go ahead and use DISM to upgrade the O/S without any repercussions on my Exchange 2010 setup ?

  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2011
    I saw this post too late and performed the upgrade using the DVD media.  Do they both essentially do the same thing, or is using the media to perform the "upgrade" a total overkill for 2008 R2?  Seems like upgrading with the media would simply launch the DISM utility?

  • Anonymous
    March 21, 2012
    Event if it might work to use DISM to upgrade a server from stf to ent with Exchange on it's not supported so I would never do that in a production scenario! From technet.microsoft.com/.../bb691354.aspx : If you're installing the Mailbox server role and you intend the server to be a member of a database availability group (DAG), you must be running the Enterprise Edition of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. The Standard Edition doesn't support the features needed for DAGs. You can't upgrade Windows when Exchange is installed on the server.

  • Anonymous
    May 17, 2012
    We upgraded a Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard running Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) to Enterprise successfully, however, the AD CS Roles had to be completely reinstalled.  We chose to use existing Key and Certificates, but since we did not take a backup of AD CS, the Issuance History was gone.  We upgraded to the next two servers (also Running AD CS) but took backups first and restored after the AD CS Role was re-instated.  Worked perfectly...It may affect other existing AD Roles so review those prior to upgrade.  Clearly the AD DS was called out above. For sure, take backups of the AD CS Prior for a flawless restore of the AD CS database.

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2012
    I am attempting an upgrade of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard to Datacenter to shore up licensing. I attempted the commands to complete the update using the KMS client key as we use KMS. The machine is a VM in vSphere 4.1 Update 2. It appears to be stuck in a reboot loop trying to configure Windows. Any suggestions on how to handle this issue? It has rebooted over 15 times now...

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2012
    And how about when the servers are in a HyperV cluster. I would guess to offload any vms from one of the hosts and take out of the cluster for maintenance mode.   Upgrade that server but will it balk when you try to take out of maintenance mode and "rejoin" the cluster? Got a 4 host cluster to bump up to datacenter on each host.

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2012
    found a post that says go for it social.technet.microsoft.com/.../4ff295fc-496f-4c99-9d60-e9219f482ecf Thank you Damir Bersinic for pointing me to it.

  • Anonymous
    March 19, 2013
    If I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation SP1 OEM and want to migrate it to Standard what type of license should I purchase to obtain a valid Key to allow for the DISM type of migrate?

  • Anonymous
    September 09, 2013
    Finally had a chance to try this and it worked great. Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2013
    I have similar question as Ron Vink, want to upgrade oem 2008 R2 Foundation server to 2008 R2 Standard.  Just buy Standard R2 online, get key and use DISM?  Any help appreciated...im thinking about trying this without calling an outside IT person but don't want to crash the place!?

  • Anonymous
    December 11, 2013
    What if the machine you are trying to upgrade from Standard to Enterprise IS the KMS host server for the domain?  We use MAK for most servers, but do happen to have a KMS host, which happens to be the server I need to upgrade from Standard to Enterprise to take advantage of more than 32GB of RAM.

  • Anonymous
    January 15, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 15, 2014
    the KMS keys are listed at this link. http://www.kempet.nl/index.php/articles/microsoft/other-related/50-kms-client-keys-for-volume-activation

  • Anonymous
    January 20, 2014
    i have windows 2008 r2 ent. I have 2 servers on cluster. i need to upgrade the server to datacenter. please tel me how do i go?

  • Anonymous
    January 23, 2014
    When you refer to a Product Key, do I use the key for the exiting installation or the key for the upgraded OS?

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2014
    I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation SP1 OEM and I want to migrate it to Standard. I have a license key for Standart Edition. But i have - error 50. My server not DC. Please help me. Thank you.

  • Anonymous
    March 17, 2014
    I have solution - i found the other key - and all right !!!
    Thanks to yourself !!!

  • Anonymous
    April 11, 2014
    Quick question, i have window foundation 2008 with active directory domain services, i need to remove the active directory to do the upgrade to window server standart?
    Or active directory is not the same as DC?

  • Anonymous
    July 02, 2014
    Hi Brendan,

    Thanks for post, very helpful. I2ve done successfully.

  • Anonymous
    November 14, 2014
    Good post.
    Worked like a charm for us, successfully upgraded a Windows 2008 R2 std to enterprise with DISM.

    Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    November 28, 2014
    Excellect article , saved one day, Regards.

  • Anonymous
    January 12, 2015
    Hey, I am trying to use this command to Convert windows 2008 r2 Standard to Enterprise, I have exchange install on this server (No database copy) will it harm anything to exchange.

  • Anonymous
    February 08, 2015
    Thanks, it work for me as well using DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /productkey:74YFP-3QFB3-KQT8W-PMXWJ-7M648

  • Anonymous
    February 17, 2015
    I'm trying dis nw it aint woking

  • Anonymous
    March 29, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 09, 2015
    If someone need windows key can click link https://www.facebook.com/Download-Windows-7-For-Free-1668217453413894 to got. It provide 100% working.

  • Anonymous
    January 27, 2016
    Hi Brendan, nice post this one, one question, it's possible to make the upgrade to a VMWARE virtual Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard?

  • Anonymous
    April 12, 2016
    Thanks for the information.
    http://indguru.com