Plan the in-place upgrade
Performing an in-place upgrade of a virtual machine (VM) instance that isrunning an earlier version of WindowsServer can be a pragmatic way to modernize yourinfrastructure and to mitigate the risks of approaching the end of the support lifecycleof Windows Server versions.
Alternatives to consider
Before you decide to use an in-place upgrade to migrate to a newer version ofWindowsServer, be aware of the following limitations:
Downtime: Depending on the configuration and software installed, theupgrade might take an hour or longer. During the upgrade, access to the VMinstance is limited because:
- Workloads running on the VM instance are unavailable to users
- Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is not available
- There are limited ways to check the upgrade progress and the timeremaining in the upgrade
Risk: Depending on the configurations of your existing instances and theinstalled software:
- The upgrade can fail
- Some configuration options can be overridden
- Incompatibilities can cause your workload to malfunction on the upgradedinstance
Depending on the workload running on your Windows Server instance,you can reduce downtime and risk by pursuing different approaches.
Workload | Approach |
---|---|
Your VM instance is running a workload that supports replication, such as:
| Consider setting up a new VM instance that is running a more recent version of WindowsServer, and then use replication to shift the workload from your existing VM instance to the new VM instance. |
You have a VM instance that is running a multitude of workloads | Consider migrating these workloads to separate VM instances so that each VM instance runs only a single workload. Even if you can't migrate all workloads, reducing the number of workloads running on a single VM instance can help reduce risks during an in-place upgrade. |
Product keys
A WindowsServer product key is valid for only a specificversion; when you perform an upgrade to a later version of WindowsServer, youmust supply a new product key. There are two primary scenarios:
You are upgrading a VM instance that is based on apublic operating system image provided by Google: In thisscenario, you must use the predefinedKMS client setup keys for the version of Windows Server that you are upgrading to. The upgradedoes not incur additional charges.
You are upgrading a VM instance for which youbrought an existing license: InBYOL,you need to acquire a product key from your license vendor to performthe upgrade. Check the Microsoft documentation to determine which edition you can upgrade toand whether you are eligible for license conversion.
Installation media
To perform the upgrade, you need an installation media. There are two primaryscenarios:
You are upgrading a VM instance that is based on apublic operating system image provided by Google: In this scenario, you can use the volume licenseinstallation media provided by Google. The steps to access this installationmedia are provided below.
You are upgrading a VM instance that is based on an imported disk or image:In this scenario, you cannot use the installation media provided by Google.Instead, you have to use an installation media that matches the type ofmedia that you used to install Windows Server on the imported disk or image.
Other prerequisites
Before you begin your upgrade, review the Microsoft documentation aboutprerequisites and potential limitations for the version of Windows Serveryou are planning to upgrade to:
2012 R2
Verify that your VM instance meets thesystem requirements for Windows Server 2012and hassufficient free disk space.
Review recommendations for upgrading serverroles,known issues,and theupgrade processfor Windows Server 2012 R2.
Review the recommendations for planning an in-placeupgrade.
Verify that you aren't affected by featuresremoved or deprecatedin Windows Server 2012 R2.
Verify that any of your customor third-party software is compatible with Windows Server 2012 R2.
2016
Verify that your VM instance meets thesystem requirements for Windows Server 2016 and hassufficient free disk space.
Review the server role upgrade and migration matrix for Windows Server 2016 andapplication compatibility table
Verify that you aren't affected by featuresremoved or planned for replacement in Windows Server 2016.
Verify that any of your customor third-party software is compatible with Windows Server 2016.
2019
Verify that your VM instance meets thesystem requirements for Windows Server 2019 and hassufficient free disk space.
Review the Windows Server 2019 and Microsoft Server application compatibility list.
Verify that you aren't affected by featuresremoved or planned for replacement in Windows Server 2019.
Verify that any of your customor third-party software is compatible with Windows Server 2019.
2022
Verify that your VM instance meets thesystem requirements for Windows Server 2022 and hassufficient free disk space.
Review the Windows Server 2022 and Microsoft Server application compatibility list.
Verify that you aren't affected by featuresremoved or planned for replacement in Windows Server 2022.
Verify that any of your customor third-party software is compatible with Windows Server 2022.
Perform the in-place upgrade
The following sections guide you through the process of upgrading your VMinstance.
Create a snapshot
Before you start the upgrade, we recommend that you create a snapshot of yourVM instance,so that you can revert to a safe state in case anything goes wrong:
Create aregular snapshot for the boot disk of your VM instance.
If the VM instance has additional data disks attached, create snapshots forthe data disks by usingthe Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
Prepare your WindowsServer configuration
Verify the configuration of your Windows Server VM instance:
Connect to your VM instance with an RDP client.
Verify that WindowsServer is up to dateby using Windows Update.
Disable or uninstall antivirus, antispyware, and other agents that caninterfere with the upgrade or are incompatible with the Windows Serverversion that you're upgrading to.
Attach the install media
Before you can perform the upgrade, attach the necessary installation media to theVM instance. The right media to use depends on your scenario:
- You are upgrading a VM instance that is based on a public operating systemimage provided by Google: In this scenario, you only need to attach thevolume license installation media provided by Google. This media containsboth the necessary scripts to run the upgrade and the files for the new versionof Windows Server.
You are upgrading a VM instance that is based on an imported disk or image:In this scenario, you also need to attach the volume license installation mediaprovided by Google so that you can access the necessary scripts.
Additionally, you have to attach a custom installation media that matches the type of media thatyou used to install Windows Server on the imported disk or image.
To attach the volume license installation media provided by Google, follow these steps:
In the Google Cloud console, openCloud Shell by clicking theActivate Cloud Shell button.
Go to the Google Cloud console
Set the default project ID. Replace
PROJECT_ID
with the name of yourCompute Engine project:gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID
Create a disk based on the installation media. Replace
ZONE
with thename of the zone where the VM is located:gcloud compute disks create win-installers --image-family=windows-install-media --image-project=compute-image-tools --zone=ZONE
This command adds a disk named
win-installers
to your project. This diskis not attached to any VM instance.Attach the disk to your VM by using read-only (
ro
) mode, so thatyou can attach the disk to multiple VMs if necessary:gcloud compute instances attach-disk VM_NAME --disk=win-installers --mode=ro --zone=ZONE
Replace the following:
VM_NAME
: the name of the VM instance to upgradeZONE
: the name of the zone where the VM is located
You can use the same disk for multiple and parallel VM upgradeswithin the same zone, but if you want to upgrade a VM in adifferent zone, you must create another disk in that zone.
If you are upgrading a VM that is based on an imported disk or image,attach the custom installation media as an additional disk:
Follow the steps in Creating an image from an ISO file to create a disk from the ISO image that you want to use as custom installation media.
Attach the disk to your VM, by using read-only (
ro
) mode so thatyou can attach the disk to multiple VMs if necessary:gcloud compute instances attach-disk VM_NAME --disk=CUSTOM_MEDIA_DISK --mode=ro --zone=ZONE
Replace the following:
VM_NAME
: the name of the VM to upgradeCUSTOM_MEDIA_DISK
: the name of the disk containing your custom installation mediaZONE
: the name of the zone where the VM is located
Start the upgrade
By default, Windows Setup prompts you for input at various points during anupgrade. Because you can't connect to the VM by using RDP during theupgrade and therefore can't provide any input, run the upgrade inunattended mode.
Connect to your VM with an RDP client. For more information, seeConnecting to instances.
Open an elevated command prompt:
- If you use Server Core, an elevated command prompt should open automatically after login.
- If you use Windows Server with full Desktop Experience,right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
Change the working directory to the installation media. The correct workingdirectory depends on the Windows Server version that you are upgrading to:
2012 R2
cd /d d:\*2012*
2016
cd /d d:\*2016*
2019
cd /d d:\*2019*
2022
cd /d d:\*2022*
Start the Windows upgrade. The required steps to start the upgradedepend on the Windows Server version that you are upgrading to and whetheryour VM is based on a public operating system image or onan imported disk or image:
2012 R2
Run
upgrade.ps1
to start the Windows upgrade. The script completes thefollowing steps:- Install the latestGoogle driver packages,which are critical for the WindowsServer upgrade to succeed.
- Apply Windows settings that are required for Compute Engine.
- Enable access to the Emergency Management Services (EMS) console during the upgrade.
- Launch Windows Setup (
setup.exe
) from the install media to perform an upgrade in unattended mode. - Selects the correct edition of Windows Server 2012 R2 to install.
- Provides the Generic Volume License Key (GVLK) for the new version of Windows Server.
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File upgrade.ps1
2012 R2 (BYOL)
Run
upgrade.ps1
to start the Windows upgrade. The script completes thefollowing steps:- Install the latestGoogle driver packages,which are critical for the WindowsServer upgrade to succeed.
- Apply Windows settings that are required for Compute Engine.
- Enable access to the Emergency Management Services (EMS) console during the upgrade.
- Launch Windows Setup (
setup.exe
) from the install media to perform an upgrade in unattended mode. - Selects the correct edition of Windows Server 2012 R2 to install.
- Provides the user provided license key for the new version of Windows Server.
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File upgrade.ps1 -SetupExePath SETUP_PATH -ProductKey PRODUCT_KEY
Replace the following:
SETUP_PATH
: the path tosetup.exe
on your custom installation mediaPRODUCT_KEY
: a valid product key for Windows Server 2016.
The
-ProductKey
parameter is only required ifyou are upgrading a VM instance for which you brought an existing license (BYOL)2016 or later
Run
upgrade.ps1
to start the Windows upgrade. The script completes thefollowing steps:- Install the latestGoogle driver packages,which are critical for the WindowsServer upgrade to succeed.
- Apply Windows settings that are required for Compute Engine.
- Enable access to the Emergency Management Services (EMS) console during the upgrade.
- Launch Windows Setup (
setup.exe
) from the install media to perform an upgrade in silent mode. - Provide a product key for the new version of Windows Server.
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File upgrade.ps1
In some cases, Windows Setup might show a Select Image screen. If yousee this screen, select the configuration that matches yourcurrent configuration:
- If you currently use Server Core, selectDatacenter.
If you currently use Windows Server with full desktop experience, selectDatacenter (Desktop Experience).
Click Next to begin the upgrade.
It might take several minutes for the setup to initialize.
2016 or later (imported)
Run
upgrade.ps1
to start the Windows upgrade. The script completes thefollowing steps:- Install the latestGoogle driver packages,which are critical for the WindowsServer upgrade to succeed.
- Apply Windows settings that are required for Compute Engine.
- Enable access to the Emergency Management Services (EMS) console during the upgrade.
- Launch Windows Setup (
setup.exe
) from the install media to perform an upgrade in silent mode.
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File upgrade.ps1 -SetupExePath SETUP-PATH -ProductKey PRODUCT-KEY
Replace the following:
SETUP_PATH
: the path tosetup.exe
on yourcustom installation mediaPRODUCT_KEY
: a valid product key for theversion of Windows Server that is being upgraded to. For example, ifupgrading from Windows Server 2016 Datacenter to Windows Server 2019Datacenter, provide a valid Windows Server 2019 Datacenter key.
The
-ProductKey
parameter is only required if you are upgrading a VM instancefor which you brought an existing license (BYOL).In some cases, Windows Setup might show a Select Image screen. If yousee this screen, select the configuration that matches yourcurrent configuration:
- If you currently use Server Core, selectWindows Server Datacenter.
If you currently use Windows Server with full desktop experience, selectWindows Server Datacenter (Desktop Experience).
Click Next to begin the upgrade.
It might take several minutes for the setup to initialize.
The upgrade process might issue the following warning. If so, you canignore it:
[package name] or a newer version is already installed on the system
The system can become temporarily unresponsive while installing the
netkvm
driver. If this happens, don't close the RDP connection or stop theVM instance unless the system is unresponsive for more than 5 minutes. Ifyou do lose RDP connectivity, wait approximately 5 minutes before youreconnect to the VM instance.The Setup Wizard might require you to restart the system first. Inthis case, restart the VM instance and run Windows Setup again, using thesame command.
After about 5 minutes, the machine reboots, and RDP disconnects.
Observe the upgrade process
Depending on the machine type of your VM instance and your WindowsServerconfiguration, the upgrade might take between 10 and 60 minutes to complete.During that time, you can observe the status through theserial port output:
In Cloud Shell, observe the boot process by running the following command:
gcloud compute instances tail-serial-port-output VM_NAME --zone=ZONE
Replace the following:
VM_NAME
: name of your VM instanceZONE
: name of the zone where the VM instance is located
Wait until the machine has rebooted four times. Depending on theconfiguration of your VM instance, it might take 30 minutes or morefor these reboots to occur. You can recognize a reboot by output thatlooks similar to this:
SeaBIOS (version 1.8.2-20190620_103534-google)Total RAM Size = 0x00000001e0000000 = 7680 MiBCPUs found: 2 Max CPUs supported: 2
After the fourth reboot, wait until the output
GCEMetadataScripts: Finished running startup scripts
orNo startup scripts to run
appears.
Perform post-upgrade steps
You can now connect to the VM instance to verify that the upgrade has beensuccessfully completed.
Connect to the VM instance by using an RDP client. For more information,seeConnecting to instances.
Log in using a user account with local administrator privileges.
Open an elevated command prompt:
- If you use Server Core, an elevated command prompt should open automatically after login.
- If you use Windows Server with full desktop experience,right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
Run the following command to query the version of Windows Server:
Windows Server Core
ver
Windows Server with Desktop Experience
winver
Verify that the version matches the expected version of Windows Server.
Change the working directory to the installation media. The correct workingdirectory depends on the Windows Server version that you are upgrading to:
2012 R2
cd /d d:\*2012*
2016
cd /d d:\*2016*
2019
cd /d d:\*2019*
2022
cd /d d:\*2022*
Run
upgrade.ps1
again to re-apply specificCompute Engine settings that might have been lost duringthe upgrade:powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File upgrade.ps1
Restart the VM instance to ensure all changes take effect. It might take1 to 2 minutes for the reboot to complete before you can connect to the VMinstance again.
Detach the installation disk
You can now detach the installation disk from the VM instance:
In Cloud Shell, detach the installation disk from your VM instance,replacing
VM_NAME
with the name of your VM instance:gcloud compute instances detach-disk VM_NAME --disk=win-installers
Install updates and restore access
After the upgrade is complete, run Windows Update to download and install anysecurity updates. To install the security updates, follow these steps:Connect to the machine by using an RDP client. For more information, seeConnecting to instances.
Use Windows Update toinstall the latest Windows updates.You might have to restart the VM instance multiple timesduring this process.
Re-enable any agents, antivirus, or antimalware software that you disabledbefore the upgrade.
Troubleshoot the in-place upgrade
While running Windows Setup, you can't connect to the VM instance with RDP. Ifyou suspect that the upgrade failed or is not progressing, use the followingapproaches, in order, to diagnose the situation:
Check the serial port output
To check the progress of the upgrade process, view theserial port output of the VM instance:
- Serial port 1 captures the boot status
- Serial port 3 captures the log output of Windows Setup
During the upgrade, you should observe four reboots. If you don't observe anyprogress for more than 30 minutes after the first reboot, it is likely that theupgrade failed.
Check CPU and I/O metrics
Running a WindowsServer upgrade is a CPU and disk I/O intensive operation. Bychecking the CPU and I/O metrics, you can get an indication for whether thesetup is progressing.
View the CPU and I/O metrics in the Google Cloud console:
In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.
Go to VM instances
Click the instance that you're upgrading.
Click the Monitoring tab.
Connect to the Emergency Management Services console
Both during and after running Windows Setup, you can connect to theEmergency Management Services (EMS) console.Using the EMS console, check theWindows Setup log files and theevent log for indications that the upgrade is still progressing or for information aboutany errors that might have occurred.
Connect remotely by using WinRM
If connecting by using RDP or EMS fails, you can try using WinRM to establish aremote PowerShell session:
Connect to a different WindowsServer instance in the sameVPC.
Open PowerShell.
Establish a remote PowerShell session, replacing
VM_NAME
with the name of the instance to upgrade:Enter-PSSession -ComputerName VM_NAME -UseSSL -SessionOption (New-PsSessionOption -SkipCACheck) -Credential (Get-Credential)
When prompted for credentials, enter the username and password of anadministrative user account.
Use the remote PowerShell session to check theWindows Setup log files and theevent log.
Analyze log files offline
If you can't connect to the instance by using Windows Remote Management (WinRM),you can cancel the upgrade and analyze the log files from a different VMinstance. To do this, follow these steps:
Stop the VM instance.
This can take several minutes if WindowsServer is unresponsive.
Detach the boot disk from the instance.
Create a new, temporary Windows Server instance, and attach the boot disk ofthe original instance as an additional disk.
Use the temporary Windows Server instance to analyze thesetup log and event log files of the instance that you were trying to upgrade.
After you have completed the analysis, detach the disk from the temporaryinstance andreattach it as a boot disk to the original VM instance.
Troubleshoot RDP
For information about troubleshooting RDP, seeTroubleshooting RDP.
Troubleshoot your Windows Server instances
For information about troubleshooting your WindowsServer instances, seeTips and troubleshooting for Windows instances.