Windows Server installation and upgrade

Applies to: Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008

Extended support for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 ends in January 2020. Learn about your upgrade options.

Is it time to move to a newer version of Windows Server? Depending on what you are running now, you have lots of options to get there.

Installation

If you want to move to a newer version of Windows Server on the same hardware, one way that always works is a clean installation, where you just install the newer operating system directly over the old one on the same hardware, thus deleting the previous operating system. That is the simplest way, but you will need to back up your data first and plan to reinstall your applications. There are a few things to be aware of, such as system requirements, so be sure to check the details for Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2012.

Moving from any pre-release version (such as Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview) to the released version (Windows Server 2016) always requires a clean installation.

Migration (recommended for Windows Server 2016)

Windows Server migration documentation helps you migrate one role or feature at a time from a source computer that is running Windows Server to another destination computer that is running Windows Server, either the same or a newer version. For these purposes, migration is defined as moving one role or feature and its data to a different computer, not upgrading the feature on the same computer. This is the recommended manner in which to move your existing workload and data to a more recent version of Windows Server. To get started, check the server role upgrade and migration matrix for Windows Server.

Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade

Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade is a new feature in Windows Server 2016 that enables an administrator to upgrade the operating system of the cluster nodes from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016 without stopping the Hyper-V or the Scale-Out File Server workloads. This feature allows you to avoid downtime which could impact Service Level Agreements. This new feature is discussed in more detail at Cluster operating system rolling upgrade.

License Conversion

In some operating system releases, you can convert a particular edition of the release to another edition of the same release in a single step with a simple command and the appropriate license key. This is called license conversion. For example, if your server is running Windows Server 2016 Standard, you can convert it to Windows Server 2016 Datacenter. In some releases of Windows Server, you can also freely convert among OEM, volume-licensed, and retail versions with the same command and the appropriate key.

Upgrade

If you want to keep the same hardware and all the server roles you have set up without flattening the server, upgrading is an option—and there are lots of ways to do it. In the classic upgrade, you go from an older operating system to a newer one, keeping your settings, server roles, and data intact. For example, if your server is running Windows Server 2012 R2, you can upgrade it to Windows Server 2016. However, not every older operating system has a pathway to every newer one.

Upgrade works best in virtual machines where specific OEM hardware drivers are not needed for a successful upgrade.

You can upgrade from an evaluation version of the operating system to a retail version, from an older retail version to a newer version, or, in some cases, from a volume-licensed edition of the operating system to an ordinary retail edition.

Before you get started with an upgrade, have a look at the tables on this page to see how to get from where you are to where you want to be.

For information about the differences between the installation options available for Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview, including the features that are installed with each option and the management options available after installation, see Windows Server 2016.

Whenever you migrate or upgrade to any version of Windows Server, you should review and understand the support lifecycle policy and timeframe for that version and plan accordingly. You can search for the lifecycle information for the particular Windows Server release that you are interested in.

Upgrading to Windows Server 2016

For details, including important caveats and limitations on upgrade, license conversion between editions of Windows Server 2016, and conversion of evaluation editions to retail, see Supported Upgrade Paths for Windows Server 2016.

Note: Upgrades that switch from a Server Core installation to a Server with a Desktop installation (or vice versa) are not supported. If the older operating system you are upgrading or converting is a Server Core installation, the result will still be a Server Core installation of the newer operating system.

Quick reference table of supported upgrade paths from older Windows Server retail editions to Windows Server 2016 retail editions:

If you are running these versions and editions:	You can upgrade to these versions and editions:
Windows Server 2012 Standard	Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2012 Datacenter	Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard	Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter
Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter	Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
Hyper-V Server 2012 R2	Hyper-V Server 2016 (using Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade feature)
Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials	Windows Server 2016 Essentials
Windows Storage Server 2012 Standard	Windows Storage Server 2016 Standard
Windows Storage Server 2012 Workgroup	Windows Storage Server 2016 Workgroup
Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Standard	Windows Storage Server 2016 Standard
Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Workgroup	Windows Storage Server 2016 Workgroup

License conversion

You can convert Windows Server 2016 Standard (retail) to Windows Server 2016 Datacenter (retail).

You can convert Windows Server 2016 Essentials (retail) to Windows Server 2016 Standard (retail).

You can convert the evaluation version of Windows Server 2016 Standard to either Windows Server 2016 Standard (retail) or Datacenter (retail).

You can convert the evaluation version of Windows Server 2016 Datacenter to Windows Server 2016 Datacenter (retail).

Upgrading to Windows Server 2012 R2

For details, including important caveats and limitations on upgrade, license conversion between editions of Windows Server 2012 R2, and conversion of evaluation editions to retail, see Upgrade Options for Windows Server 2012 R2.

Quick reference table of supported upgrade paths from older Windows Server retail editions to Windows Server 2012 R2 retail editions:

If you are running:	You can upgrade to these editions:
Windows ServerВ 2008В R2 Datacenter with SP1	Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
Windows ServerВ 2008В R2 Enterprise with SP1	Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
Windows ServerВ 2008В R2 Standard with SP1	Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
Windows Web ServerВ 2008В R2 with SP1	Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
Windows Server 2012 Datacenter	Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
Windows Server 2012 Standard	Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
Hyper-V Server 2012	Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

License conversion

You can convert Windows Server 2012 Standard (retail) to Windows Server 2012 Datacenter (retail).

You can convert Windows Server 2012 Essentials (retail) to Windows Server 2012 Standard (retail).

You can convert the evaluation version of Windows Server 2012 Standard to either Windows Server 2012 Standard (retail) or Datacenter (retail).

Upgrading to Windows Server 2012

For details, including important caveats and limitations on upgrade, and conversion of evaluation editions to retail, see Evaluation Versions and Upgrade Options for Windows Server 2012.

Quick reference table of supported upgrade paths from older Windows Server retail editions to Windows Server 2012 retail editions:

If you are running:	You can upgrade to these editions:
Windows Server 2008 Standard with SP2 or Windows Server 2008 Enterprise with SP2	Windows Server 2012 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter with SP2	Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Web Server 2008	Windows Server 2012 Standard
Windows ServerВ 2008В R2 Standard with SP1 or Windows ServerВ 2008В R2 Enterprise with SP1	Windows Server 2012 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows ServerВ 2008В R2 Datacenter with SP1	Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Windows Web ServerВ 2008В R2	Windows Server 2012 Standard

License conversion

You can convert Windows Server 2012 Standard (retail) to Windows Server 2012 Datacenter (retail).

You can convert Windows Server 2012 Essentials (retail) to Windows Server 2012 Standard (retail).

You can convert the evaluation version of Windows Server 2012 Standard to either Windows Server 2012 Standard (retail) or Datacenter (retail).

Upgrading from Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008

As described in Upgrade Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the extended support for Windows Server 2008 R2/Windows Server 2008 ends in January of 2020. To ensure no gap in support, you need to upgrade to a supported version of Windows Server, or rehost in Azure by moving to specialized Windows Server 2008 R2 VMs. Check out the Migration Guide for Windows Server for information and considerations for planning your migration/upgrade.

For on-premises servers, there is no direct upgrade path from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2016 or later. Instead, upgrade first to Windows Server 2012 R2, and then upgrade to Windows Server 2016.

As you are planning your upgrade, be aware of the following guidelines for the middle step of upgrading to Windows Server 2012 R2.

You can’t do an in-place upgrade from a 32-bit to 64-bit architectures or from one build type to another (fre to chk, for example).

In-place upgrades are only supported in the same language. You can’t upgrade from one language to another.

You can’t migrate from a Windows Server 2008 server core installation to Windows Server 2012 R2 with the Server GUI (called «Server with Full Desktop» in Windows Server). You can switch your upgraded server core installation to Server with Full Desktop, but only on Windows Server 2012 R2. Windows Server 2016 and later do not support switching from server core to Full Desktop, so make that switch before you upgrade to Windows Server 2016.

For more information, check out Evaluation Versions and Upgrade Options for Windows Server 2012, which includes role-specific upgrade details.

Update the Windows Update Agent to the latest version

This article describes how to update the Windows Update Agent to the latest version.

Original product version: В Windows 10 — all editions, Windows Server 2012
Original KB number: В 949104

Summary

If you have automatic updating turned on, the latest version of the Windows Update Agent is downloaded and installed automatically on your computer. Or, you can manually download and install the Windows Update Agent.

Automatically download Windows Update Agent

To download the Windows Update Agent automatically, follow these steps:

Turn on automatic updating. Follow these steps, for the version of Windows that you are running.

Windows 8.1 or Windows 8

1. Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving up the mouse pointer), tapping or clicking Settings, tapping or clicking Control Panel, and then tapping or clicking Windows Update.
2. Tap or click Change settings.
3. Under Important updates, choose Install updates automatically.
4. Under Recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates check box, and then select OK.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP

To turn on automatic updating automatically, select the Fix it button or link, and then select Run in the View Download dialog box. Then, follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.

Restart the Windows Update service. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Press the Windows logo Key+R to open the Run box.
2. Type services.msc in the Run box, and then press Enter.
3. Right-click Windows Update in the Services management console, and then select Stop. If you are running Windows XP, right-click Automatic Updates, and then select Stop.
4. After Windows Update stops, right-click Windows Update, and then select Start. If you are running Windows XP, right-click Automatic Updates, and then select Start.

Wait for Windows Update to start, and then verify that the Windows Update Agent is updated.

Manually download Windows Update Agent from Microsoft Download Center

Click the download link for your version of Windows to obtain the latest Windows Update Agent.

Stand-alone packages for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center.

Operating system	Update
All supported x86-based versions of Windows 8 (KB2937636)	Download the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows 8 (KB2937636)	Download the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2012 (KB2937636)	Download the package now.

Stand-alone packages for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

The following files are available for download from Windows Update.

Operating system	Update
All supported x86-based versions of Windows 7 SP1	Download the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7 SP1	Download the package now.
All supported x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Download the package now.
All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Download the package now.
All supported Itanium-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Download the package now.

Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 with update 2919355 already include the latest version of the Windows Update Agent.

More information

If you receive a Windows Update error, try Solutions for common Windows Update errors.

For more information about how to check which version of the Windows Update Agent is installed, follow these steps:

1. Open the %systemroot%\system32 folder. %systemroot% is the folder in which Windows is installed. For example, the %systemroot% folder is C:\Windows .
2. Right-click Wuaueng.dll, and then select Properties.
3. Select the Details tab, and then locate the file version number.

The latest version of the Windows Update Agent for Windows 8.1 is 7.9.9600.16422. The latest version of the Windows Update Agent for Windows 8 is 7.8.9200.16693. The latest version of the Windows Update Agent for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP is 7.6.7600.256.

Improvements in version 7.6.7600.256 of Windows Update Agent

A hardened infrastructure so that the Windows Update client will trust only those files that are signed by a new certificate. The certificate is used solely to protect updates to the Windows Update client.

A more secure communication channel for the Windows Update client

Improvements in version 7.4.7600.226 of Windows Update Agent

• Improved scan times for Windows updates.
• Improved Windows Update UI for computers that are running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.
• More visible and detailed descriptions of updates.
• Improvements in how users are notified about service packs.

Issues that are fixed in version 7.2.6001.788 of Windows Update Agent

Version 7.2.6001.788 of the Windows Update Agent fixes the following issue. This issue was not previously documented in a Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

• When you try to install 80 or more updates at the same time from Windows Update or Microsoft Update, you receive a «0x80070057» error code.

Improvements in version 7.2.6001.784 of Windows Update Agent

• Improved scan times for Windows Update
• Improved speed at which signature updates are delivered
• Support for Windows Installer reinstallation
• Improved error messaging

Issues that are fixed by version 7.0.6000.381 of Windows Update Agent

Version 7.0.6000.381 of the Windows Update Agent fixes the following issues. These issues were not previously documented in a Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

• The Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) crashes on a Windows Vista-based computer. For more information, see An update is available to fix a Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) crash on a Windows Vista-based computer.
• A fix is included that reduces the number of restarts that are required for the stand-alone installer when Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) files are being used.
• User interface elements in the Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese languages are fixed.
• The Windows Vista installation experience is improved.

Windows Update helps keep your computer up-to-date and secure by downloading and installing the latest security and other updates from Microsoft. Windows Update determines which updates apply to your computer.

Microsoft periodically makes software updates available to users of Windows and other Microsoft software. These include updates that improve reliability and performance, updates that provide new protections against malware and other potentially unwanted software, and upgrades to Windows features. To improve the performance or the reliability of hardware components on the computer, Microsoft may also provide updates to device drivers that are supplied by the computer manufacturer.

If you turn on Windows Update, software components that are directly related to Windows Update will have to be updated occasionally on your computer. These updates must be performed before Windows Update can check for required updates or before it can install other updates. These required updates fix errors, provide ongoing improvements, and maintain compatibility with the Microsoft servers that support Windows Update. If you disable Windows Update, you will not receive these updates.

Windows Update is configured to install updates automatically when you select the recommended option during Windows Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) Setup. You can also turn on Windows Update by selecting one of following settings in the Automatic Updates item in Control Panel:

• Automatic (recommended).
• Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
• Notify me, but don’t automatically download or install them.

After you turn on Windows Update, the required updates to components of Windows Update will be downloaded and installed automatically without notifying you. This behavior occurs regardless of which setting you use to turn on Windows Update. If you do not want to receive required updates, you can disable automatic updates in Control Panel.

The updates to Windows Update itself typically do the following: Address feedback from customers, improve compatibility, service performance and reliability, and enable new service capabilities. When the Windows Update server is updated, a corresponding client update is typically required. During an agent self-update operation, Windows Update Agent files may be added, modified, or replaced. For example, Windows Update Agent files that help display the user experience or that determine whether updates apply to a particular system may be added. This behavior occurs when a system is set to automatically check for available updates. This does not occur when automatic updates are turned off. For example, this behavior does not occur if you select Never check for updates in Windows Vista and Windows 7 or if you select Turn off Automatic Updates in Windows XP.

Administrators will receive the latest version of the Windows Update Agent for deployment through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).