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Advice: In Place Upgrade 2012R2 to 2016?


jmone

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My main tip is not to try it.

MS says the upgrade path is possible but not recommended.

The main problem I encountered when doing this was with the AD versioning.  As part of the upgrade process the Essentials installer will attempt to upgrade the AD version to 2016.  I had another 2012r2 Standard server and a couple of workstations joined to my old domain.  After the upgrade supposedly succeeded the existing domain admin account had no access to anything in AD and the existing domain user permissions were also screwed up.  

Rather than going down the rabbit hole of trying to repair a directory that didn't really matter to me I ended up unjoining everything from the domain (which included demoting the other 2012 server which was a backup DC), blowing away 2016, and then starting from scratch.

I just built everything back up from scratch in probably 1/100th the time it would have taken me to unf-k the old directory and if I just started from a fresh install of 2016 would have saved me a lot of time.

Maybe others had more success than I did, but this was my experience.

Good luck,

John

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Thanks - FYI, I don't use a Domain and join all my PC's using the Domain Skip approach.  I just use WS to backup the PC's and to also host a back pool for DrivePool.  It's all working fine but I get the "upgrade" itch from time to time.

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... just reporting back (sorry also realised this is probably in the wrong sub forum).  So far so good.  All seems to be working but it did take a loooong time.  Couple of notes:

- The installer complained that I had to manually upgrade the domain and AD.  Why the installer does not do it I'm unsure and I lost an hour or two working that out

- Many rounds of Windows Updates dowloading, preparing, upgrading various "Cumulative Updates".  This took 8 hours all up and much longer than the initial install.  Why oh Why doesn't the original install download include all these latest patches

- DrivePool cam up no issue post the upgrade

- Client Backups where kept as well

- Seems the bug about adding a new drive requiring removal and re-setup of the OS Backup is gone :)  (finally)

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20 hours ago, jmone said:

- The installer complained that I had to manually upgrade the domain and AD.  Why the installer does not do it I'm unsure and I lost an hour or two working that out

While you may not care, anyone using a Domain Controller .... this can nuke the existing domain, and cause issues.  It's why in place upgrades are not recommended, actually. 

20 hours ago, jmone said:

 - Many rounds of Windows Updates dowloading, preparing, upgrading various "Cumulative Updates".  This took 8 hours all up and much longer than the initial install.  Why oh Why doesn't the original install download include all these latest patches

Ah, yes, the updates... 

20 hours ago, jmone said:

- Client Backups where kept as well

Awesome.  I suspected as much.  But IIRC, there is a limit on how far back you can upgrade from (eg, it works with 2012/2012R2, but not WHS2011). 

But glad to hear it. 

20 hours ago, jmone said:

 - Seems the bug about adding a new drive requiring removal and re-setup of the OS Backup is gone :)  (finally)

Awesome! 

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