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I've tried doing in-place upgrade of several different servers (using the latest available media) and several was not working after the upgrade. Some Windows Server 2016 had registry keys removed as part of the migration (Axapta 2012 R3 Object Server service settings in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services). Also tried a server running SQL 2016 and that wasn't working either after the migration.
Considering the "migrate your old os with legacy applications to Windows 2025" statement, I really thought this session contained more in-depth on level 300 or more on how to migrate those legacy installations a lot of companies have, but felt let down with another repeat of previous presentations.
2025 is a great step up from 2022, but I really expected more technical content 6 months after the release concerning upgrades.another great session from Jeff woolsey n-4 is so amazing.
Is there a new version of the Active Directory schema in Windows Server 2025?
- Rob-Hindman
Microsoft
Yes, Windows Server 2025 Active Directory has a new forest and domain functional levels ("Windows Server 2025"), so domains can be upgraded in the usual way by first adding WS 2025 Domain controllers, removing the old domain controllers, and then changing the domain and forest functional levels to "Windows Server 2025". See this article: Upgrade domain controllers to a newer version of Windows Server | Microsoft Learn
I am glad to learn about the N-4 Media Update, a new concept that allows upgrades from four previous releases.
Explain to me why i need(or should) to use Azure ARC for my virtual machines running on-premise?
I can see Microsoft eventually dropping support for Configuration Manager in favor of Azure Arc /Intune.
- Pierre_Roman
There is a great session going on right now on Modernize server management and connectivity with Azure Arc
https://aka.ms/ModernizeServerManagement
- Heather_Poulsen
Community Manager
Thanks for tuning in! We hope you enjoyed this session. Q&A will remain open through Friday.
The Windows Server Summit 2025 continues.
Up next: Modernize server management and connectivity with Azure Arc Thank you Jeff and Rob for this Great Upgrade session 👍
We recently upgraded our six-node cluster from Server 2022 to Server 2025. We upgraded manually, but ran into issues where once the new 2025 node was added back into the cluster, we could only live migrate VM roles between the server 2025 nodes. We used the same drivers packs, but when looking at the processors within the device manager the drivers were different. Is there any known compatibility issues you all are aware of?
- Rob-Hindman
I'm not aware of any compatibility issues - the Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade process should have worked, and the VMs should have been able to live migrate between the different OS versions of the cluster nodes. We recently updated the documentation: Upgrade the OS of a Windows Server failover cluster by performing a cluster OS rolling upgrade | Microsoft Learn. Also, I should ask, did you consider opening a support ticket for this issue?
Thanks for the reply, Rob. We did not open a case. This is a cluster in our test environment. We just pushed through upgrading all of the nodes as quickly as possible.
ms-ajf8729Will a Server 2025 Feature Upgrade become available to be synced into ConfigMgr for software update deployment, similar to Windows 11 Feature Upgrades?
- Rob-Hindman
Windows Server 2025 Feature Update is currently only media based - meaning that you need to have the Windows Server 2025 DVD or ISO. Soon we will support WS 2025 Feature Update from the Settings Dialog of Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022 to make upgrading easier. We currently do not have any integration with ConfigMgr, sorry!
- ms-ajf8729
I am curious as to why. If it can be made available directly via Windows Update via the Settings app, it seems like it could easily be published to the catalog, or whatever the specific interface is that allows Windows 11 Feature Upgrades to by synced into ConfigMgr for deployment. I am aware that the Server 2025 CUs use UUP-technology, same as Windows 11, so I would assume the Feature Upgrade is the same. If this were available, customers that manage their server fleet with ConfigMgr could upgrade them easily via a software update deployment, instead of needing to use a "classic" in-place upgrade task sequence with an OU upgrade package.
So what is exactly "Failover Clustering"?
- Elden_Christensen
Failover Clustering is a feature included in Windows Server, which allows you to take multiple servers (physical or virtual) and configure them for high availability. When one server fails, another takes over. You can configure most server workloads for high availability, such as Hyper-V virtual machines is extremely popular, but File Servers, and workloads like SQL Server can also be made highly available with Failover Clustering.
Thanks!
Elden
