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AD domain controller upgrade requirements

Timelines and exceptions · All guidance changes

Active Directory · Official Microsoft guidanceObserved changes retained

Observed content change

9 removed passages (about 70 words). The changed wording mentions dates and deadlines, prerequisites. Review the source to confirm the effect.

May need admin actionCheck whether new requirements apply to your setup; check the dates against your plans.

Requirement wordingDate or deadline wording
RemovedUpgrade domain controllers to a newer version of Windows Server
[removed: Note]
RemovedUpgrade domain controllers to a newer version of Windows Server
[removed: Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.]
RemovedUpgrade domain controllers to a newer version of Windows Server
[removed: Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.]
RemovedUpgrade domain controllers to a newer version of Windows Server
[removed: Applies to: ✅ Windows Server 2025, ✅ Windows Server 2022, ✅ Windows Server 2019, ✅ Windows Server 2016]
RemovedFeedback
[removed: Was this page helpful?]
RemovedFeedback
[removed: Need help with this topic?]
RemovedFeedback
[removed: Want to try using Ask Learn to clarify or guide you through this topic?]

Microsoft's wording from Microsoft source, © Microsoft Corporation, under CC BY 4.0. ChangeIntel marks removed and added words, drops formatting and shortens long unchanged stretches.

Read the current Microsoft source · Link to this observation · Compare any two versions

Sections to inspect

Up to 12 section headings from retained before/after evidence. The current source may have changed again.

Why this was flagged

The changed words, with a few words around them, matched these rule categories: dates and deadlines, prerequisites. These matches identify subjects to assess; they do not establish a policy change or applicability.

Observation details · observed 12 Oct 19:50 UTC
Observed by ChangeIntel
12 Oct 19:50 UTC
Source update metadata
16 Sep 17:33 UTC
First observed on this installation
5 Oct 17:50 UTC
Last successful check
today 14:04 UTC
Next check due
today 20:04 UTC

Observation time is not publication time, and a comparison does not establish an effective date. Full source bodies are not published; this page holds generated summaries, section headings and, as the page's license allows, Microsoft's changed wording. A documentation edit does not confirm feature availability in an environment.

Watch this page to review its changes in My radar.

Timeline

From the capture of 12 Oct 19:50 UTC

Requirements, exceptions and scope

Extracted automatically from Microsoft's wording. Confirm dates, conditions and whether they apply to you in the source before acting; a month or quarter is a window, not a day.

How this timeline changed

Changes between ChangeIntel's readings of the page, between commits of its source file where Microsoft publishes it, in Internet Archive copies of pages that keep no other history, and entries from Microsoft's own change log (dated as Microsoft dates them). Edits between readings that neither records are unknown.

  11. Requirement added Install another DC in an existing domainin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit d1f9ff7
  12. No longer on the page Install an additional DC in an existing domainin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit d1f9ff7
42 earlier changes
  16. No longer on the page Install an additional DC in an existing domainin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  17. Requirement added Run adprep /forestprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  18. Requirement added Run adprep /domainprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  19. No longer on the page Run adprep /domainprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  20. Requirement added Install a new forestin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  21. No longer on the page Install a new domain in an existing forestin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  22. Requirement added Run adprep /rodcprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  23. No longer on the page Run adprep /domainprep /gpprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  24. Requirement added Run adprep /domainprep /gpprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  25. No longer on the page Run adprep /rodcprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  26. No longer on the page Run adprep /forestprepin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  27. Requirement added Install an additional DC in an existing domainin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  28. No longer on the page Install a new forestin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
  29. Requirement added Install a new domain in an existing forestin Installation actions and required administrative levelsMicrosoft's source, commit 62c6c45
Observed history and review priority

Captured 12 Oct 19:50 UTC; extracted 16 Oct 16:10 UTC. Extractor: microsoft-1/9/fc65ebeb286710c0a830833db8a7e5de7e266b79981fe9c7c34479be9369ad3c.

Review priority. Previously extracted guidance is missing from a later capture · Extracted assertions require review · Applicability or exceptions require review

0 date changes and 0 condition changes across 1 compared revisions. Suggested check interval: 6 hours.

Earlier unavailable versions and edits between checks are unknown. A missing statement requires review; it does not mean the policy was cancelled. Recovered historical statements are not original revision snapshots.

Retained observations · 16

Compact evidence remains available after full document bodies expire. Earlier extractions can have different vocabulary or capture limitations.

Microsoft's edits

History on GitHub

Commits to the page's source in MicrosoftDocs/windowsserverdocs, with Microsoft's own messages. Commit dates can be hours or days before Learn publishes the change. ChangeIntel keeps a copy of each diff, so an edit stays readable here if GitHub stops serving it. Read 19 Oct 23:40 UTC.

  1. Clarify AD DS upgrade wording Served on LearnView diff
  2. Clarify AD DS in-place upgrade not recommended; use clean OS install View diff
  3. Updated pic to reflect outlined steps View diff
  4. Removing special character View diff
  5. Merge branch 'main' into patch-2 View diff
  6. Removing local applies to for AD DS View diff
  7. Updating image View diff
  8. edit pass: upgrade-domain-controllers View diff
  9. edit pass: upgrade-domain-controllers View diff
  10. Fixed spelling error for "version" View diff
  11. Added a note View diff
  12. Corrected links View diff
  13. Updated some of the steps View diff
7 metadata-only edits · author, dates or topic labels, no article text
  1. Remove manager metadata from identity directory files (batch 1: 201 files total) Metadata onlyView diff
  2. Add SFI ms.custom values Metadata onlyView diff
  3. [BULK METADATA UPDATE] Updates author/ms.author. Metadata onlyView diff
  4. [Scoped] Bulk update author metadata Metadata onlyView diff
  5. Bulk update ms.topic, author: robinharwood Metadata onlyView diff
  6. Bulk update to authors Metadata onlyView diff
  7. replaced daveba as ms.author Metadata onlyView diff

Suggested by a shared curated topic and product; not a verified connection (6 items)

Retained observations

  • 12 Oct 19:50 UTC · shown above
  • 6 Oct 17:57 UTC

    Source metadata changed; retained article content is unchanged.

  • 5 Oct 17:50 UTC

    Baseline for retained history; no earlier retained text to compare.

What changed

First observed 18 Oct 2026

No field changes in the recorded history.

Cite this recorded revision to keep the same title, summary, facts and links when the page changes.

A day selects the latest observation by the end of that UTC day; today's selection can change until midnight. History starts when this installation records it.

ChangeIntel

An IT change radar: releases, security, known issues, retirements, documentation changes, and service status from public sources. Every item links to supporting evidence; dates and statuses can change after they are read.

Sources read 20 Oct 17:50 UTC · 258 of 260 readable · 256 fully read · documentation 416/439 current

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