Upgrade of server 2008 r2 / 2012 to 2019

[ancilmohammed]

I would like to do an in place upgrade of the following:
1. 2008R2 -> 2012R2 -> 2019
2. 2012 -> 2012R2 -> 2019

How do I purchase license? Should I only buy the 2019 or do I need the 2012R2 or 2016?

[#2]

An in-place upgrade is never recommended, better option is to clean install, patch fully, migrate roles over. Yes, you're correct you cannot in-place upgrade using evaluation media so you need to purchase the intermediate steps. Also seems a slim chance that the 2008 hardware would have support for Server 2019.

https://www.windowsservercatalog.com/

[#3 · Accepted solution]

@ancilmohammed 

Hi Ancil,

I have the same opinion as Dave regarding the inplace upgrade, that makes absolutely no sense and will> 90% not go well either.

Regarding the licenses, however, I have a different opinion than Dave. If you have valid licenses for the 2019 server, you do not need any additional licenses for the intermediate steps. In the case of volume licenses, this is 100% because you also acquire the right of use for the older versions when you purchase the volume licenses. This point is disputed for OEM licenses because MS does not explicitly provide for downgrade rights in the EULA. On the other hand, the MS-EULA has only a very limited legal validity depending on the country.

Regards from Germany

Alex

[#4]

Regarding the licenses, however, I have a different opinion

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I was not commenting on the legality. Legal licensing issues cannot be resolved by anonymous forums users.

The technical part is that you cannot in-place upgrade from or to and evaluation version of windows. You also cannot in-place upgrade from an un-activated windows instance. So regardless of how you obtain them, licenses and activation would have to be part of the intermediate steps.

[#5]

@Dave Patrick

Hi Dave,

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@Dave Patrick wrote:
Legal licensing issues cannot be resolved by anonymous forums users.

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how can I please understand this saying now?

Hopefully by anonymous you don't mean me.

Otherwise I would recommend you to google something or look in the Microsoft partner directory. 😉

Regards from Germany

Alexander Fuchs

IT System Admiral

IT Technology Senior Evangelist

(Owner)

NEXT GENERATION IT SOLUTIONS

[#6]

@ancilmohammed

Hi Ancil,

small addendum, more information about downgrade rights can be found under the following link.

https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/8/9/68964284-864d-4a6d-aed9-f2c1f8f23e14/downgrade_rights....

Regards from Germany

Alex

[#7]

Hopefully by anonymous you don't mean me.

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Not specifically but the forums do not provide any method for a given user validation or authentication. You can say here in forums that you're Steve Ballmer but who really knows? So yes all forums users are anonymous, but this topic is completely off in the weeds. The technical answer is what applies here.