In this video we explain and demonstrate how to migrate Active Directory from Server 2012 to Server 2022, move the FSMO roles and upgrade the Domain and Forest Functional Levels.
Note that over the years we have done many in-place upgrades to Domain Controllers at smaller customers but it is a gamble that Microsoft does not recommend.
There are 6 key steps to the process:
- Install a fresh Windows Server 2022 (or Server 2019 or 2016) and join it to the existing Domain
- Patch, update and power cycle everything you can
- Add Active Directory to the new Server 2022
- Move FSMO‘s from the older Server 2012 to the new Windows Server 2022
- Update DNS in DHCP and statics then demote old Windows Server 2012
- Upgrade the Domain and Forest Functional Level
5 Comments
Tim · July 25, 2023 at 6:07 am
Very helpful, thankyou. This is what i’ve been looking for for migrating a customer from 2012 to 2022.
Two major question I have though: Their DC has all the users, as well as their entire shared files drive.
When I change FSMOs to the new 2022, do all the users, and GPO etc get copied across tot he 2022 machine?
And what about files and folders? Do I have to manually transfer them over and re-share and map them through the GPOs?
Thanks
Chris · August 24, 2023 at 9:51 am
Tim,
Found your comment while strolling through. when you promote the server to a domain controller, it should replicate the users and groups, GPOs, DNS and basically copy your Primary Controller. As for the files, write a script to move the shares. Then just update your GPOs with the new path of the shares and push a gpupdate /force. Im in the process of doing this myself! Best of luck!
Jay Scott · March 14, 2022 at 2:00 pm
Like this scenario, I am going from 08 R2 to 2022…. I have read a bunch about problems migrating SYSVOL from frs to DFSR. Are there more steps than shown in this video? Or can this process work migrating content from old to new with out blowing up sysvol?
Ian Matthews · April 4, 2022 at 6:03 pm
Not that I am aware of. DFS died with Server 08 but it kept running if you already had it in place.
I did a bit of research and found only 1 comment I thought was useful:
Run “repadmin /syncall” after the dfsrmig commands to speed up things a bit.
SOLVED: How Long Does It Take For Permission Changes To Take Effect – Up & Running Technologies, Tech How To's · October 6, 2023 at 5:36 pm
[…] the practical answer to this question is, no. Let us explain. When you make a change to a group in Active Directory that change will take place instantly however because Windows only enumerates what groups a user […]