
Migrating Active Directory Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 SP2 to Windows Server 2008 R2
Organizations are migrating their Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controllers because of the new cool features of Windows Server 2008 R2. There are two options for migrating windows 2003 to Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller.
1. Directly Upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2 on same physical machine, which is not recommended?
2. Migrating specific domain controller functionality to the new windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Domain environment using new hardware, which is the best option for migrating Active Directory Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller.

The prerequisites for migrating to Windows Server 2008 R2 in a new hardware are as follows:
1. Existing Windows Server 2003 domain controller must be Windows Server 2003 SP2 or higher.
i.) Open Active Directory User s and Computers, Right Click On msservpero.com and click Raise Domain Functional Level and check Current domain functional level.

ii.) Open Active Directory Domains and Trusts, Right Click on Active Directory Domains and Trusts and Click Raise Domain Functional Level and check Current forest functional level.


3. Forest and Domains must be prepared Using adprep. In Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller, Run Adprep /forestprep and Adprep /domainprep /gpprep from the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation DVD \support\adprep folder.
i.) Insert the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD into the DVD drive of the Windows Server 2003 SP2 Server. ii.) Click Start , Click Run , and then type CMD and Click OK.




4. Promote a New Windows Server 2008 R2 server to a domain controller, including DNS and global catalog.
Now Our Windows Server 2003 SP2 Active Directory is ready for Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller. To set up an Additional Domain Controller, please look my previous article on “Creating Additional Domain Controller for an Existing Domain.”
5. Transfer all operations master roles to the new domain controller. i.) Log on KTM-DC01-2K8 new domain controller, Click Start, Click Run, and type cmd and Click OK. ii.) Verify the FSMO Roles on Windows Server 2003 SP2 Server before we transfers FSMO roles to new Windows Server 2008 R2 Server.

















7. Now disjoin Windows Server 2003 SP2 from the domain to a workgroup. Fresh Install Windows Server 2008 R2 and join the domain. Then Upgrade the server to a domain controller and transfer required FSMO roles back to the system.
Summary: Finally, we successfully Migrated Active Directory Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 SP2 to Windows Server 2008 R2, which is an easy process. I hope this article will help you in the near future when you are migrating from Windows Server 2003 to 2008 R2 Domain Controller.
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Really glad to know that you have been running a blog which covers microsoft server products. This post is really useful. Hope that you will come up with other useful stuff as well. Cheers!!
Great
Didn’t know the forum rules alolewd such brilliant posts.
Was totally stuck until I read this, now back up and rnunnig.
Your site is really really helpful and I learned a lot from your step by step.
Thanks for your sharing.