A path from Windows 2019 Essentials to Windows 2022 standard

Question

I purchased Windows Server 2019 Essentials for my small business through Microsoft's online portal and want to upgrade to Windows Server 2022 Standard.

My setup is a Dell PowerEdge T550 with an Intel Xeon Silver 4309Y (8-core) processor. I tried an in-place upgrade using the trial version of Windows Server 2022 Standard, but it wouldn’t accept the license key from Windows Server 2019 Essentials.

What’s the official upgrade path to move to Windows Server 2022 Standard?

Answer 1

Server upgrades are covered here. Server 2019 to Server 2022 is a supported, inplace upgrade. You are allowed to move from a "smaller" edition to a "larger" edition in most cases, as discussed in the documentation. You cannot go the other way. You also cannot upgrade from a licensed to an unlicensed version. None of that applies to you though.

For your case, assuming your server hardware is supported, you can do an inplace upgrade from Server 2019 to 2022. Read the documentation to ensure that you aren't running anything that will have issues with the upgrade though.

Answer 2

Hi Sri Sabbella,

It is supported to upgrade Windows Server 2019 to Windows Server 2022. However, you need to purchase a license for Windows Server 2022 Standard from Microsoft or an authorized reseller.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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