5/1/24, 9:32 PM Upgrade Domain Controller from Server 2016 to Server 2022 | Configuration Manager ManishBangia
U U a a
Upgrade Domain Controller from
Server 2016 to Server 2022
by Manish | SCCM
In this post we will be upgrade existing Domain controller Windows Server
2016 to Server 2022 which is also known as in-place upgrade. For
Windows Server 2022 upgrade, there are few pre-requisites to be met
because we need to have latest schema applied on DC and also have to
use adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep commands.
Table Of Contents
Windows Server 2022 Upgrade path
In-place upgrade from Windows Server 2012 R2
to Windows Server 2022
In-place upgrade from Windows Server 2016 to
Windows Server 2022
In-place upgrade from Windows Server 2019 to
Windows Server 2022
Download Windows Server
In-place Upgrade Process
Verification steps
Conclusion
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We need to run Adprep /forestprep once in the forest, while adprep
/domainprep needs to be run on each domain where we are trying to
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upgrade from Server 2016.
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Windows Server 2022 release date is 18 Aug, 2021 with Mainstream
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End date specified as 13 Oct 2026 and Extended End date as 14
Oct 2031.
Windows Server 2022 Upgrade path
Not every Windows server can be upgraded to server 2022 directly. There
are specific upgrade paths we need to follow. There is a nice article on
Microsoft page which explains it, however it doesn’t show Windows Server
2022 server details as they still need to update it (at the time of writing this
blog).
As Windows Server 2022 Schema version is exactly same as Server
2019, I am assuming the path mentioned in the image should work for In-
place upgrade from Server 2012 R2 as well (haven’t tested yet). Following
are the servers which can be upgraded:
In-place upgrade from Windows Server 2012 R2 to
Windows Server 2022
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We can upgrade. Server can directly be upgraded from Windows Server
- This is only valid for Windows Server 2012 R2 (not for Windows
Server 2012). Hence, we can skip version 2016,2019. (Note: I still need
to test this behaviour yet). However, we need to upgrade the schema
before upgrade.
The steps mentioned in this article, should be applicable for Server 2012
R2 as well.
In-place upgrade from Windows Server 2016 to
Windows Server 2022
We can upgrade. Server can directly be upgraded to Windows server
2022, hence we can skip 2019 version. For this version also, we need to
upgrade the schema on Windows Server.
In-place upgrade from Windows Server 2019 to
Windows Server 2022
We can upgrade. This is one of the easiest upgrade method as we don’t
have to upgrade the schema.
Download Windows Server
Windows Server 2022 can be downloaded through Windows Server
Evaluations. Windows Server 2022 iso has also been made available on
Visual Studio Subscription
Once downloaded, either extract the content of ISO locally or mount the
ISO.
In-place Upgrade Process
If you try to run in-place upgrade process without running adprep tool you
will get following error as shown in the image:
Active Directory on this domain controller does not contain Windows
Server 2022 ADPREP /FORESTPREP updates.
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Verify Current AD Schema
Run the following PowerShell command (in elevated mode) to verify :
Get-ADObject (Get-ADRootDSE).schemaNamingContext –
Property objectVersion
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We can see objectVersion is 87, this schema version is associated with
“Windows Server 2016”, here is more information on various schema
numbers:
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AD version objectVersion
Windows Server 2000 13
Windows Server 2003 30
Windows Server 2003 R2 31
Windows Server 2008 44
Windows Server 2008 R2 47
Windows Server 2012 56
Windows Server 2012 R2 69
Windows Server 2016 87
Windows Server 2019 88
Windows Server 2022 88
We can see that Schema version 88 is same for both Servers 2019 &
- Hence, that’s the reason we don’t need to upgrade the schema in
case of in-place upgrade from Windows Server 2019 version.
Open command prompt (elevated rights) on Domain controller and
navigate to source directory of Windows Server ISO. In my case the
location was d:\support\adprep\adprep.exe.
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Run the command adprep.exe /forestprep
Type C and press enter to continue with upgrade of schema. This will
upgrade current schema version from 87 to 88.
Schema update in Windows Server 2022 uses Sch88.ldf
This process creates 2 log files under
c:\windows\debug\adprep\logs\yyyymmddhhmmss with name ADPrep.log
& ldif.log.
ADPrep.log will show you successful upgrade of Schema.
ldif.log will show you attributes which has been extended to schema such
as ms-PKI-DPAPIMasterKeys, ms-PKI-RoamingTimeStamp and others.
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Run adprep.exe /domainprep to update the domain-wide information.
Let’s begin installation of Server 2022. Launch setup.exe with admin
rights.
Under Product key page provide the KMS client setup key. Following are
the keys for your reference based upon the version you are using:
Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: WX4NM-KYWYW-QJJR4-XV3QB-
6VM33
Windows Server 2022 Standard: VDYBN-27WPP-V4HQT-9VMD4-VMK7H
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Click here for KMS Client Setup key provide by Microsoft.
As these are the KMS keys, this needs to be activated later with KMS
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server within your environment.
On Select Image page, I am going with Windows Server 2022
Datacenter (Desktop Experience) version for full GUI experience, click
Next.
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Under Applicable notices and license terms page, click Accept.
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Under Choose what to keep, this is the page which actually helps us
going with the real need of in-place upgrade without loosing files, settings
and apps, click Next.
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It will first check for available updates, and you might see Getting
Updates.
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Once ready to install, hit Install button.
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Verification steps
The process will first extract the binaries to hidden folder
c:\$WINDOWS.~BT.
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Once extracted, reboot will happen and server upgrade process will
initiate.
This process might take some time depending upon the size of your infra.
Once completed, login to the server.
Launch run window (press Windows + R) and type Winver, this will show
the Microsoft Windows Server 2022 version 21H2 (OS Build
20348.169).
Where 20348 is the build version and 169 is the patch version which gets
updated with every security update.
Open registry (regedit) and navigate to
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion
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You will be able to see lots information, especially ProductName which I
am interested in.
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Conclusion
Windows Server 2022 can be upgrade from Server 2019, Server 2016
and probably with Server 2012 (yet to test). Important thing to consider is
to upgrade the schema from Server 2016 and 2012. Upgrading from
Server 2019 doesn’t require Schema upgrade as schema version is 88,
which is same for both Server 2019 & Server 2022. Running adprep
commands are the crucial steps to perform while planning to upgrade
domain controller.