upgrade 2003 R2 x64 SP2 to 2008 R2 x64

[njadmin]

Has anyone gotten this to complete all the way?

I get to the last step and at 62% of transferring settings and programs it craps out. This is a VM and I've tried with the vmtools and without. The only constant so far it that it complains about the VMCI might not work after upgrade.

I've tried searching all over but most question are about 32bit to 64bit (I know you can't do that) this upgrade it going to stay 64bit from start to finish.

Thanks

 

[ths0210]

It sounds like it should work. Microsoft's 'Supported Upgrade Paths' even list that 2003 R2 will upgrade to 2008 R2.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979563(v=ws.10).aspx

I assume you're running Enterprise versions of both 2003 and 2008? What version Host are you running?

 

[ths0210]

Also, is a fresh-install possible? That would save you a lot of the headache upgrading can bring. Always better to just fire up a fresh server and configure, of course, I understand there are those cases where it's preferred to upgrade.. Just wondering...

 

[njadmin]

Both are standard not enterprise, the VM host is vCenter 6.0.0 build 5318203.

Just tried again with different ISO and it still fails at the same spot. The only errors I can plainly see are about the media player dll but I doubt that should cause it to fail. I'm going to wipe the logs and keep an eye on the time while I try again and see if I can narrow it down in the log file since it's huge (30MB). I've uninstalled all the old software I can think of and removed old profiles too.

 

[njadmin]

I'm almost at the point of a fresh install but I need to make sure that the data drive will hold on to all the permissions for the shares if I attach it to a new install. I have about 1.5TB of users files and a share tree that's very large. All folders are set with NTFS perms so I think they should stay active but I'm not 100% about that.

 

[ths0210]

Just curious about the Server's role.. What roles does it perform on your network? (Domain Controller? Print Server? Application Server? Or just holds the data drive?) I'm wondering if a server role that is installed isn't compatible with the upgrade. Some upgrade no problem but I read that some are a PITA and have to be removed before upgrade and then re-installed afterwards.

 

[njadmin]

It's only a file server, no other roles. At one point I did have VBox installed and Commvault backup but I've removed all that software.

 

[technome]

NJ, in the life of this install if there are issue in the future do you really want to wonder if 2003 and the upgrade could be causing issues? If you run into a perplexing issue, you or anyone else providing tech support, including Microsoft will have doubts. Been doing server since 1982, I have never upgraded a server. Inherited server which have been upgraded, the doubt is not worth it.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, 1949

 

[njadmin]

I'm getting ready to take this copy change the name and IP setup a new file share and make it reflect the current share (smaller scale though). Then I'm going to disconnect that drive then slide it to a new 2012 VM and see if the NTFS rights carry over. If that works then I'm good, if not then it's going to be hell moving all this data and resetting all the folder permissions.

 

[njadmin]

Just an update to close this thread.

I couldn't figure out what was causing it to fail during the last step of the upgrade. I've tested attaching a second drive from a test 2003 R2 x64 VM to a fresh 2012 VM and it looks like all the NTFS right transfer (of course with the exception of the local admin account). The handful of users I had for testing showed similar rights access to the original file share.

Thanks for the help