Forum Discussion
Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2016 Upgrade
I have a Windows Server 2016 server acting as our domain controller and I would like to upgrade that to Windows Server 2016. I am using this as a guide https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-se...
An in-place upgrade is never recommended and is risky especially for a domain controller.
I'd use dcdiag / repadmin tools to verify health correcting all errors found before starting any operations. Then stand up the new 2016, patch it fully, license it, join existing domain, add active directory domain services, promote it also making it a GC (recommended), transfer FSMO roles over (optional), transfer pdc emulator role (optional), use dcdiag / repadmin tools to again verify health, when all is good you can decommission / demote old one.