Hi Cicely What i am trying to do is tranition from windows server 2003 to 2008 R2, windows 2003 is our DC as of now so i built a virtual server and i want to make 2008 my new DC the only steps i am confused about is weather i run the adprep on the 2003 or 2008 and weather i install the DNS and Active Directory Domain Services on the new server, and yes i would be using dcpromo thanks

Hi, It seems you only had one DC(windows server 2003) in your domain, and you wanted to upgrade it to Windows Server 2008 R2, so you installed a Windows Server 2008 virtual machine as a temporally transition DC, right? If there is any misunderstanding, please correct me. You must run Adprep.exe command on your existing domain controller, that is, Windows server 2003 machine, to extend Active Directory Forest Schema from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008. Details:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd464018(v=WS.10).aspx Then you can promote 2008 server to additional DC(with DNS installed) and transfer FSMO from the Windows Server 2003 DC to the temp DC. After make sure everything is ok you can demote Windows Server 2003 DC to a member server and disjoin it from the domain and upgrade it. Regards, Cicely

well thats going to be the new DC, but thats exacly what i needed Thanks

Ok i need some help with the steps of Transitioning from Win 2003 to 2008 R2 The steps are as follows run adprep choose a static ip address add the new server to your domain install the DNS and AD roles run dcpromo move FSMOS files Question : Do i run the adprep on the 2003 server or the 2008 server Also do i install the DNS server and the Active Directory Domain Services Thnaks

Hi, Please see this thread to accomplish it. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverMigration/thread/d815ba1b-96a5-4147-86bf-e36dbfa82395/Regards, Ravikumar P

Hi Ravikumar I have read that guide and serveral other guides And i am trying to figure out if i run the adprep on the 2003 server or the 2008 server and also if i install the Active Directory Domain Services **This is my first time doing this Thanks

Hi, What did you mean by "if I install the Active Directory Domain Services"? Is your Windows Server 2003 a DC? It would be better if you can provide us more information about your current situation:) Regards, Cicely