Upgrading Windows Server 2008 R2 to 2012 – via RDP
In order to save some fuel/time/energy I’m upgrading one or our test servers from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 via RDP. Not recommended or supported in any scenario <insert disclaimer here>.
Before you start, make sure all Virtual Machines are in a OFF state, setup wont be possible if they are set to SAVED or RUNNING.
Here we go!
Start a RDP session, I decided to take the Admin session:
Check the version currently installed:
Download and extract the ISO of the new Operating System:
Start the installer
Following the wizard:
- Download the latest updates for setup.
- Enter a valid product key (you can even ALT-TAB to copy it from somewhere)
- Choose a Windows Edition (with or without a GUI).
- Decide whether you accept the License Terms or not.
- Choose to upgrade.
And now… we wait…
After a while (and some reboots) the server responds to ping request again:
It took some more coffee until I could reach the server using RDP again.
Install the latest updates and: upgrade finished!