Tutorial on how to perform Migration from Windows 2003 AD to 2016
It is NOT possible to migrate Windows 2003 AD to 2019 directly as the minimum requirement to add a Windows Server 2019 Domain Controller is a Windows Server 2008 functional level Components used in this lab
- Windows 2003R2 Server with Exchange 2003 SP2 (WIN2003 – 192.168.1.170)
- Windows 2016 Server – (WIN2016 – 192.168.1.172)
- Windows 7 Pro – (WIN7PRO – DHCP)
Windows 2016 Server as Additional Domain Controller
Setup a new Windows 2016 Server with latest patches installed and join to existing AD Domain
Verify the DNS Server is pointing to the existing Windows 2003 AD Domain Controller
Get-DnsClientServerAddress -AddressFamily IPv4
InterfaceAlias Interface Address ServerAddresses
Index Family
-------------- --------- ------- ---------------
Ethernet0 5 IPv4 {192.168.1.170}
Join to AD Domain and reboot
$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PsCredential("mylab\administrator", (ConvertTo-SecureString "P@ssw0rd!@#$" -AsPlainText -Force))
$DomainName = "mylab.local"
Add-Computer -DomainName $DomainName -Credential $cred
Restart-Computer
Raise Forest & Domain Functional Level to Windows 2003
Raise Domain Functional Level from Windows 2000 Native to 2003 in Active Directory User and Computers
Right click on AD Domain and select Raise Domain Functional Level
Raise the current Domain Functional Level from Windows 2000 mixed to Windows Server 2003
Click OK to proceed
Domain Functional Level had been raised to Windows 2003 successfully
Raise Forest Functional Level from Windows 2000 to 2003 in Active Directory Domains and Trusts
Raise the Current Forest Functional Level from Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003
Forest Functional Level had been raised to Windows 2003 successfully
New Additional AD Domain Controller
Login to the new Windows 2016 Server as Domain Administrator to
Disable Windows Firewall or verify that all the required ports are alllowed by following Firewall Ports Required to Join AD Domain & Firewall Ports Required for AD Replication
#Disable Windows Firewall
Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False
Promote it as Additional Domain Controller and Reboot
#Install AD Domain Services
install-windowsfeature AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools
#Addtional Domain Controller
$Password = "P@ssw0rd!@#$" | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force
Install-ADDSDomainController -DomainName “mylab.local” `
-InstallDns:$true `
-NoRebootOnCompletion:$false `
-SafeModeAdministratorPassword $Password `
-Force:$true
New Windows 2016 Server had been promoted as additional domain controller successfully
Verification of AD, SYSVOL & DNS Replication
Verify the AD Replication between Windows 2003 & 2016 AD Domain Controller are working fine with "repadmin /replsum"
Verify NETLOGON & SYSVOL is shared on Windows 2016 AD Domain Controller
Create a new GPO in Windows 2016 AD Domain Controller and verify the new GPO is displayed in Windows 2003 AD Domain Controller
Open DNS Manager and verify all the DNS records are displayed
Migration from Windows 2003 AD to 2016 by transferring FSMO Roles
Login to Windows 2016 DC, and run the following PowerShell
#Verify the placement of existing FSMO Roles
Get-ADDomain | Select-Object InfrastructureMaster, RIDMaster, PDCEmulator
Get-ADForest | Select-Object DomainNamingMaster, SchemaMaster
#Move all FSMO Roles to Windows 2016 DC
Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole -Identity “WIN2016” –OperationMasterRole DomainNamingMaster,PDCEmulator,RIDMaster,SchemaMaster,InfrastructureMaster
Update Directory Access in Exchange 2003
Open Exchange System Manager, and right click on Servers – AD01 – Properties – Directory Access
Change the Configuration Domain Controller, Domain Controllers & Global Catalog Servers to the new Windows 2016 DC
Uncheck Automatically Discover Servers, and add WIN2016 manually
Reboot the Exchange 2003 Server with the new configuration to ensure that it is working fine
Decommissioning of Windows 2003 Domain Controller
- Remove Windows 2003 Domain Controller with dcpromo
- Change the DNS Server to point to Windows 2016 DC prior reboot the server
Verify Exchange 2003 is functioning
- Verify all Exchange related services are started
- Verify inbound & outbound Email is working fine
Migration of Windows 2003 to 2016 is completed successfully for now.
We are going to use the same lab to verify the steps required to migrate from Exchange 2003 to Office 365 soon.
Appendix
A. Windows Server 2019 & Windows 10 failed to join to Windows 2003 AD Domain as SMBv1 is disabled by default
Verify the SMBv1 is disabled and enabled it with PowerShell
# Verify the SMBv1 is disabled
Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "SMB1Protocol"
FeatureName : SMB1Protocol
DisplayName : SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support
Description : Support for the SMB 1.0/CIFS file sharing protocol, and the Computer Browser protocol.
RestartRequired : Possible
State : Disabled
CustomProperties :
ServerComponent\Description : Support for the SMB 1.0/CIFS file sharing protocol, and the Computer
Browser protocol.
ServerComponent\DisplayName : SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support
ServerComponent\Id : 487
ServerComponent\Type : Feature
ServerComponent\UniqueName : FS-SMB1
ServerComponent\Deploys\Update\Name : SMB1Protocol
# Enable SMBv1
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "SMB1Protocol" -All
B. No Network Card Driver found in Windows XP running on VMware Workstation 15.5 Pro
Delete ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" manually in .vmx file