sglove

Ok. (1A) By changing CName, my users will be able to put the new files or edit current files from the new 2012 server right? Even if the old server is still in the network (but demoted already). (1B) I did some googling for the CName, and went into this guide, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff625726(v=ws.10).aspx Is this referring to what you recommended me to do? (2) I did some reading up on Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki, why is this guide showing FFL, DFL as Windows 2008 R2 and not 2012 (even though the guide is for 2012 server)

Once again, thank you localzuk. After reading the Saving and Restoring Existing Windows Shares, it became clearer for me that this step is what I do not even know it exists that I must do. Thank you so much. I did googled and also stumbled this thread, Backup and Restore Shares and Permissions on windows server - Spiceworks for the Saving and Restoring Existing Windows Shares. I also have stumbled across other irrelevant topics too. As such, can I ask for your help to point me to a link that helps me to achieve the objective in your point 4 above?

Thank you localzuk. Your words make me feel less burdened now. I have a few questions to ask for your further advise. (1) As we have only 1 DC in the whole office, is there a need to set up a PDC emulation? (2) If i demote the server 2008 dc to a normal server, can I keep it in the network? The reason is, the size of the files is about 1.4TB and it will take more than a day to transfer over, so I have decided to keep it there as an archive in the network. (3) What is this "share settings from the registry" you are referring to? (4) For the current 2008, we used the DNS forwarder to points to our ISP DNS. We did not use it for anything else. Is there still a need to re-map all the network drives in all the users PC? Thank you for your time.

For upgrade, you can refer to this link, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh994618.aspx

This is a live environment in my office, and we have 30+ staffs.

Hi all This is my first time posting in Windows Server forum. I need advice and direction in replacing Windows 2008 R2 x64 bit with the new Windows 2012 Standard x64 bit. I have googled around, and the closest I found was Replacing old DC 2003 with new DC 2008. We used our current Windows 2008 R2 as the DC, DHCP, DNS, Active Directory and File Server. We intend to take down this 2008 completely and put this 2012 in place using the same IP and ServerName as the 2008. As I am very new to Windows Server, can someone kindly give me advice on the steps and necessary precaution to take note?