Determine Supported Operating System Upgrades

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Identify the Windows NT 4.0 platforms that are running in your environment and determine whether an operating system upgrade to Windows Server 2003 is supported, or whether you must perform a clean operating system installation.

Table 8.1 lists the Windows NT 4.0 platforms and indicates which platforms you can upgrade directly to each edition of Windows Server 2003. You do not need to reinstall applications on platforms that you can upgrade directly to Windows Server 2003.

Table 8.1   Supported Upgrade Paths to Windows Server 2003

Platform Upgrade to Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition Upgrade to Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition Upgrade to Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

Windows NT 4.0 Server, Standard Edition

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Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server

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Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition

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Important

  • All versions of Windows NT 4.0 must have Service Pack 5 or later installed before upgrading to Windows Server 2003.

If you have computers in your environment that are running operating systems that you cannot upgrade directly to a version of Windows Server 2003, such as Windows NT 3.51, you must do one of the following:

  • If you need to retain applications that are located on those computers, upgrade the computers to run an operating system that you can upgrade to Windows Server 2003 after verifying that those applications will function on and are supported by Windows Server 2003.

  • If you do not need to retain applications that are located on those computers, perform a clean installation of Windows Server 2003 on those computers.