SERVER 2012R2 - VM HOST IN-PLACE UPGRADE TO 2019 - ALSO VMs GEN1 to GEN2

[Koldov]

Slowly getting everything up to date but obviously a bit cautious with prod servers...

 

1. I have an old physical host on 2012R2 (DELL PowerEdge T610 - Dual Xenon E5620 - 24GB RAM) I want to in-place this to 2019.

 

2. It is running 2 guest VMs (1 x 2019 DC and 1 x 2012R2 Print Server, WSUS and a RDS for the Headteacher to use SIMS from a Mac).

 

3. The 2012R2 VM is unfortunately a Gen1 but I plan to get this to a Gen2 and in-place it to 2019.

 

Whatever I do is going to be a bit of a pain, so to make it as simple as possible I'm looking to:

 

A) In-place Physical host 2012R2 > 2019

 

B) Convert VM Gen1 > Gen 2

 

C) In-place VM 2012R2 > 2019

 

From what I've read so far, this is all 'possible', but is there a certain order I should attempt this?

 

Host before VM?

 

Gen1 > Gen2 VM before in-place 2012R2 > 2019 VM?

[3s-gtech]

Your order will be fine. Host first, done some on Hyper-V hosts and they were quick to do. To do gen 1 to gen 2 you need enough space to create a brand new VM which copies the original (and leaves it in place).

 

You can then snapshot the gen 2 VM, in-place it, test, then delete the snapshot and the gen 1.

[Koldov]

Did you follow any sort of guide for the Gen1 > Gen2?

 

I thought there was an MBR > GPT conversion to do first which for a SERVER 2012R2 means doing it from a PE environment (which I'm going to struggle with on a prod server!).. create new Gen2 virtual machine and connect the VHD to it?

[3s-gtech]

I used a Powershell script to do it: Convert-VMGeneration

 

https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2017/02/27/tips-on-using-convert-vmgeneration-ps1-with-windows-server-2016/

 

This did everything for me, and I think it worked fine on a production server but it was a while back. I'll need to do it again soon after moving a VM from ESXi to Hyper-V.

[FN-GM]

Have you considered a complete fresh install on the host and re-importing the virtual machines? It would be much cleaner.

[Koldov]

Yeah I have, but the in-place process is better (even supported) I read these days. Also having the option of a roll-back if it was unhappy for whatever reason is a bonus. Completely wiping it for a fresh install and having to then resort to restoring from back-up when it fails is all extra steps/hassle.

 

I'm concerned 2019 might not even fresh install on such an old server (although hopefully it has every driver I'd need - 2019 drivers not available to download from DELL) if not it might use the running versions of 2012R2 drivers for the in-place....

[3s-gtech]

2019 will install on some very old kit from experience. If Windows 10 will work on the same gen of desktop hardware, usually Server 2016/2019/2022 will install.

[Boredguy]

We've done a 2008 R2 on old tin -> Gen 1 VM on a HyperV box using Disk2VHD -> Win 2012 R2 -> Win 2022 without any issue... Just got to do it all again on Monday now we've tested it so we can get 1 site's SIMS onto something that's actually supported!

[Koldov]

Well this went OK (ish) in the end.

 

For the Gen1 > Gen2 I came across an article that seemed to suggest it was as easy as updating the OS, using MBR2GPT, creating a Gen2 VM and attaching the disk.....

 

It was really scarce on actual in-depth/step by step detail but seemed to suggest it was possible. So I gave it a go and although it gave me some concerns (boot failure) it eventually came back up. I have a feeling the VM settings needed more tweaking things like it may have needed 'boot from file' to be set manually but it seemed to work this out after a few tries.