How to upgrade windows 2008 R2 Active Directory to windows 2012 Active directory

This post will guide you through the process of upgrade your Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory to a Windows Server 2012 Active Directory.

This post will cover the next steps:

1. Prerequisite.
2. Prepare the forest for upgrade.
3. Add Active Directory Domain Services over windows server 2012.
4. Promote the server to a domain controller in the existing domain.
5. Transfer FSMO role to the new windows 2012 domain controller.
6. Remove the windows 2008 Domain Controller.

Prerequisite

1. Domain controller running windows server 2008 R2
2. Forest functional mode must be at Windows Server 2003 or higher.
3. Server running Windows server 2012

Minimum Operating system requirements for Windows server 2012:

• Processor – 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor
• RAM – 512 MB
• Free disk space requirements – 32 GB

Prepare the forest for migration

To prepare the forest we need to upgrade the schema to the current version of the operation System in our case windows server 2012 by using Adprep command.

1. Navigate on the Command Prompt window to the windows server 2012 installation folder.
2. Run the following command:

D:\>support\adprep\adprep /forestprep

(D is the letter of the installation DVD)

3) Type C to begin the process

4) After the process is complete the schema version is upgrade and ready .

You can verify the schema version by running the following command.

dsquery * "cn=schema,cn=configuration,dc=DirectEx,dc=local" -scope base -attr objectVersion

The following table lists the Active Directory Schema and the corresponding Object Version:

Install Active Directory Domain Services on Windows Server 2012

1) Go to server management click manage at the top right corner and chose add Roles and features

2) At the "Before you begin" screen chose next

3) At the "Select installation type" screen chose role-based or feature-based installation

4) At the "Select destination server" screen chose the server from the list below and click next

5) At the "Select Server Role" screen select Active Directory Domain Services from the list and click next.

6) At the add roles and features Wizard Screen appear chose add features to add the necessary features for installing AD DS.

7) At the "Select Features" Screen click next

8) At the "Confirm installation selection" screen click install

Promote the server to a domain controller in the existing domain.

After AD DS role finish the installation is time to promote the server to Domain Controller

1) Click the "promote this server to a domain controller" in the "installation progress" screen after the installation has finish or through the server management in the AD DS tab click the notification flag.

2) At the "Deployment configuration" screen select " Add a domain controller to an existing domain" and fill in the domain information and credentials.

3) At the "Domain Controller Options" screen

• Select the Domain Name Server (DNS) box.
• Select the Global Catalog(GC) box.
• Select the appropriate site name.
• Fill in the password filed.

4) At the "additional option" screen you can choose a specific domain controller as the replication source or you can use any Domain Controller as the replication source.

5) At the "Path" screen click next

6) Review the configuration at the "Review Option" screen and click next

7) At the "Prerequisites Check" screen if all prerequisites checks passed successful click install.

8) After the reboot the server all set and configured as a Domain Controller in your domain.

Transfer the FSMO Role to the Windows 2012 Domain Controller

Transfer the Schema Master Role

Use the Active Directory Schema Master snap-in to transfer the schema master role. Before you can use this snap-in, you must register the Schmmgmt.dll file.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. Type regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll in the Open box, and then click OK.

3. Click OK when you receive the message that the operation succeeded.

4. Open the Active Directory Schema master snap-in in mmc console

5. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Schema, and then click Change Domain Controller and select the Domain controller that will be the new role holder.

6. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Schema, and then click Operations Master in the dialog box click change after verifying the target server.

7. Click yes to confirm the transfer in the warning dialog box.

Transfer the Domain Naming Master Role

Use the Active Directory Schema Domain and Trusts snap-in to transfer the domain naming master role.

1. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Domains and Trusts, and then click Change Domain Controller and select the Domain controller that will be the new role holder.

2. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Domains and Trusts, and then click Operations Master, in the dialog box click change after verifying the target server.

3. Click yes to confirm the transfer in the warning dialog box.

Transfer the RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master Roles

Use the Active Directory User and Computer snap-in to transfer the RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master role.

1. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Users and Computers, and then click Change Domain Controller and select the Domain controller that will be the new roles holder.

2. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Users and Computers, and then click Operations Master, in the Operations Master dialog box click the appropriate tab for the role that you want to transfer and then click Change.

Make sure to transfer all the role from the old server to the new server.

Now the new Windows server 2012 domain controller hold all the FSMO Roll and you can safely remove the windows 2008 domain controller from the domain.

Remove the windows 2008 domain controller from the domain.

1) On the Windows 2008 Domain Controller type Dcpromo at the run line and click OK to open the Active Directory Installation Wizard. in the Welcome screen click next.

2) At the "Delete the domain" screen click next

(Do not check the "delete this domain because …." Box)

3) Follow the wizard to the summery screen and click finish.

4) After restart the server your domain have only windows 2012 domain controller.

You can see the domain controllers in the domain under the domain controller OU in your Active Directory

this post whose writing by Direct Experts

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