Upgrade Windows 2003 R2 Standard to Enterprise Edition

[TerenceTan]

I have Domain Controller and members server that are Windows 2003 R2 Standard
Edition and would like to upgrade all to Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition.
Is it fully possible to do in-place upgrade without destroying data? I did a
test on a lab but the login screen still shows "Standard Server". As I do
have have additional Memory, will it detect memory above 4gb?

Thanks in Advance.

[Austin Osuide]

Hi Terrence,
AFAIK there isn't an upgrade path from Standard ed R2 to Enterprise ed R2.
It's a reinstall.
With regards to "seeing" more that 4GB of memory, If you have a 32-bit OS,
you are limited to 2^32 bytes of memory = 4GB.
So if you want to access more memory on your DC, you'll need a 64-bit box
and a 64-bit OS.


Regards,

Austin

Post by TerenceTan
I have Domain Controller and members server that are Windows 2003 R2 Standard
Edition and would like to upgrade all to Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition.
Is it fully possible to do in-place upgrade without destroying data? I did a
test on a lab but the login screen still shows "Standard Server". As I do
have have additional Memory, will it detect memory above 4gb?
Thanks in Advance.

[TerenceTan]

Thanks Autsin,

Seems I have no choice but to fresh install Ent Edition. However I found the
following:

Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition supports Physical Address
Extension (PAE), which extends system memory capability to 32 gigabytes (GB)
of physical RAM on 32-bit systems.

Regards

Post by Austin Osuide
Hi Terrence,
AFAIK there isn't an upgrade path from Standard ed R2 to Enterprise ed R2.
It's a reinstall.
With regards to "seeing" more that 4GB of memory, If you have a 32-bit OS,
you are limited to 2^32 bytes of memory = 4GB.
So if you want to access more memory on your DC, you'll need a 64-bit box
and a 64-bit OS.
Regards,
Austin

Post by TerenceTan
I have Domain Controller and members server that are Windows 2003 R2 Standard
Edition and would like to upgrade all to Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition.
Is it fully possible to do in-place upgrade without destroying data? I did a
test on a lab but the login screen still shows "Standard Server". As I do
have have additional Memory, will it detect memory above 4gb?
Thanks in Advance.

[Austin Osuide]

Maybe a few years ago Terence,
But not today. Both x32 and x64 versions of Widows cost the same.
You'll struggle to find a major manufacturer that sells boxes today that
won't support a x64 OS.
You therefore have no urge to use the PAE memory management features. And on
DC's, If I remember correctly, you could run into issues.

Regards,

Austin

Post by TerenceTan
Thanks Autsin,
Seems I have no choice but to fresh install Ent Edition. However I found the
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition supports Physical Address
Extension (PAE), which extends system memory capability to 32 gigabytes (GB)
of physical RAM on 32-bit systems.
Regards

Post by Austin Osuide
Hi Terrence,
AFAIK there isn't an upgrade path from Standard ed R2 to Enterprise ed R2.
It's a reinstall.
With regards to "seeing" more that 4GB of memory, If you have a 32-bit OS,
you are limited to 2^32 bytes of memory = 4GB.
So if you want to access more memory on your DC, you'll need a 64-bit box
and a 64-bit OS.
Regards,
Austin

Post by TerenceTan
I have Domain Controller and members server that are Windows 2003 R2 Standard
Edition and would like to upgrade all to Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition.
Is it fully possible to do in-place upgrade without destroying data? I
did
a
test on a lab but the login screen still shows "Standard Server". As I do
have have additional Memory, will it detect memory above 4gb?
Thanks in Advance.