Windows Server 2008R2 upgrade to Server 2012

[Daniel A-S]

Hi,

I need to upgrade a group of servers running 2008R2 to Server 2012, is there an upgrade license available to do this, or do we need to purchase Server 2012 licenses as if they are being installed from scratch?

I've googled around and people are suggesting there is no upgrade license, you have to buy the license independently of any previous Windows versions.

Can somebody confirm this?

Thanks

 

[voyagerfan99]

You just use a regular Server 2012 license and do the upgrade from inside Windows.

However I would always recommend a clean install than an upgrade.

 

[Daniel A-S]

In some cases however there are cheaper 'upgrade' licenses, we're trying to avoid having to buy several complete 2012 licenses at full price, especially as we didn't get the 2008R2 servers that long ago.

I don't think it's possible, I've looked and can't find anything, just wondered if somebody could confirm that there's no way of doing this, so at least I can tell my superiors that we would need to buy 2012 licenses completely independently of any previous versions installed.

 

[DMGrier]

At my work we just used the regular license, however I also appose 'upgrades'. The IT guy who is no longer with us upgraded 2008 R2 to 2012 on our brand new 3CX phone system, had to use disk cleanup to remove the damn Windows Old folder.

Honestly I would hold off as I have heard rumors of a new Windows Server coming out with Windows 10, 2008 R2 is supported until something like 2023. We only went with 2012 as we got DataCenter for $1500 and we virtualize so unlimited Windows servers .