Upgrading operating system on vSphere

[Frihu]

Hello there,

First of all I should mentioned that I am not very familiar with VSphere

I have virtual machine which is running normal Windows Server 2008. Right now I am looking forward to upgrade that virtual machine to Windows Server 2016/2019.

I would like to keep services and software from current one and use them on new virtual machine with new OS.

Could you share with me some KB or write which steps should I do to do it in proper way?

As far I know I should create new virtual machine with OS which I need and install it from scratch.

How to move data/services/software which is running there to another virtual machine? Is it possible or I should configure from the beginning whole VM?

Many thanks for feedback,

BR

Christian.

[diegodco31]

Hi

You need to create another virtual machine.

Which are data/services/software which running that VM?

[Frihu]

Hi,

Thanks for reply, I know that I should create another virtual machine with Windows Server 2016, but how to migrate services from old one to another?

Simple: I would like to copy paste configuration with installed software to another new virtual machine with different OS

e.g. VEEAM backup or NFS sharing.

I just would like to avoid again configuration and installation of software and set up services...

Is it possible ? Or better to configure them from beginning manually?

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

No, it's not possible. You basically have two options:

1. Perform in-place upgrade of Windows Server to the target OS.
2. Deploy a net new VM and manually migrate data and configuration. There is no shortcut here.

[scott28tt]

Moderator note: Please post product questions to the appropriate forum area. Thread moved to vSphere.