2008r2 Hyper-V to 2012

tribz · 25 Jan 2013 at 10:11

I've got the opportunity to upgrade my server mobo and CPU shortly so I'm thinking of also upgrading the OS to 2012.

Its currently running 2008r2 and I have a SBS2011 install running under Hyper-V which I want to move over.

Is this easy enough to do? I recently had to rebuild the 2008 install due to a problem and I managed to get the SBS2011 running again after copying some permissions/settings back to its hyper-v config file.

Any advice on a smooth transfer?

jake108 · 26 Jan 2013 at 19:15

Had to do a few of migrations of Hyper V to Hyper V (Not in the same direction however so I did it at the VM Level using Clonezilla) and reinstalled the Hyper-V tools.

There is a guide Microsoft published on how to do it here http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/archive/2012/09/13/migrating-to-microsoft-hyper-v-server-2012-from-2008-r2-and-vmware-winserv-hyperv-itpro-vmware.aspx#.UQQqOfI3Y_A

If you really want to play it safe I recommend clonezilla and save the image to external storage. Clean install Server 2012 and then recreate the VM and restore the image using Clonezilla. If you wish to do an in-place upgrade then I recommend the Microsoft guide.

SoundsGood · 26 Jan 2013 at 19:24

Shutdown VM
Export VM somewhere safe
Rebuild on 2012
Import exported VM selecting the option to keep existing ID
Install updated Integration package

I've done this with domain controllers, federation services, certificate authorities etc - never had any issues

tribz · 27 Jan 2013 at 08:01

Thanks guys, ill be doing the upgrade next weekend.

nrh1703 · 27 Jan 2013 at 22:00

only prob i had when doing this (left guests untouched, did a clean hyper-v 2012 install) was with imports failing as the 2012 hyper-v switch was different from the old one. i resolved this by removing networking adaptors from guests before the upgrade and then adding a new adaptor after importing the guests.