Windows Server 2022 can be upgraded directly to Windows Server 2025. Microsoft supports the 2022-to-2025 in-place path, so a correctly prepared server does not need an intermediate Windows Server release.
That does not mean every Windows Server 2022 machine should be upgraded by launching Setup and accepting the defaults. A production server may be carrying application dependencies, network settings, backup agents, endpoint-security software, Hyper-V guests or infrastructure roles that deserve separate validation before the operating system changes.
For a straightforward member server with supported software and hardware, an in-place upgrade can be an efficient migration. For a domain controller, failover-cluster node, aging physical server or workload where rollback must be nearly instantaneous, a side-by-side migration or role-specific upgrade method may be safer.
This guide treats the upgrade as an administrator runbook: first decide whether an in-place upgrade is appropriate, then establish a recovery path, perform the upgrade and prove that the workload still functions afterward.
Yes. Windows Server 2022 is an officially supported source for an in-place upgrade to Windows Server 2025 using installation media. Windows Server 2022 is also one of the supported source versions for Microsoft’s newer Windows Update-based Windows Server 2025 feature upgrade.
An in-place upgrade is designed to retain the existing server’s applications, settings, roles, features and data. This is different from a clean installation, which builds the operating system again, and from a migration, which moves workloads to a different Windows Server installation.
The supported version path is therefore the easy part. The more important question is whether the specific server configuration is suitable for an in-place upgrade.
Windows Server Setup normally retains the existing edition during an upgrade.
A Windows Server 2022 Standard installation therefore normally upgrades to Windows Server 2025 Standard, while Datacenter remains Datacenter. Microsoft also supports moving upward from Standard to Datacenter during an upgrade, but not downgrading Datacenter to Standard.
The installation type must also be considered.
You cannot use an in-place upgrade to switch between Server Core and Server with Desktop Experience. If Windows Server 2022 is installed as Server Core, the 2025 target must preserve that installation approach. If you want to change from Core to Desktop Experience, or the other way around, plan a clean installation or migration instead.
There are several other restrictions worth identifying before the maintenance window. In-place upgrades do not support changing the operating-system language, upgrading a prerelease build, booting the existing Windows Server installation from VHD, or upgrading from Windows Storage Server editions. Microsoft also advises disabling NIC Teaming before the in-place process and re-enabling it afterward.
An in-place upgrade is most attractive when you want to retain an existing server on the same hardware and the installed applications and roles support the new operating system.
A migration is often better when you are replacing hardware, restructuring the server, changing installation type or dealing with a workload where keeping the old machine untouched provides a cleaner rollback option. Microsoft explicitly treats in-place upgrade, clean installation, migration and cluster rolling upgrade as different deployment methods rather than interchangeable names for the same process.
Consider a Windows Server 2022 application server running a current application, backup agent and security product, all certified for Windows Server 2025.
The hardware is healthy, the server is not clustered, a tested system backup exists and the business can tolerate a maintenance window.
That is a reasonable in-place-upgrade candidate because preserving the existing configuration removes the work of rebuilding the application stack.
Microsoft’s current guidance specifically recommends not using an in-place upgrade for servers running Active Directory Domain Services, even though upgrading a domain controller can technically be possible.
Instead, Microsoft recommends installing a clean newer Windows Server instance, promoting it as a new domain controller and then demoting the older controller. One reason is that an in-place OS upgrade does not provide all of the Active Directory performance and feature improvements available with a newly deployed Windows Server 2025 domain controller.
If the Windows Server 2022 machine is a domain controller, therefore, do not treat the generic procedure in this article as the preferred AD modernization method.
A clustered host also requires a different plan.
Microsoft’s standard in-place procedure requires a nonclustered system. Failover clusters should use the appropriate Cluster OS Rolling Upgrade or other supported cluster process rather than upgrading every node as if it were an independent member server.
Likewise, if the server is a Hyper-V host, plan where its running virtual machines will go before the upgrade. Microsoft instructs administrators to shut down or migrate running VMs before starting the in-place operation.
The success of this migration is determined more by preparation than by the Windows Setup screens.
Before scheduling the upgrade, confirm:
Microsoft’s current upgrade prerequisites specifically call for a full backup covering the operating system, applications, data and any VMs, and recommend performing a restore test rather than assuming a completed backup job is recoverable.
That last point is easy to underestimate. A successful backup notification is not the same thing as a proven recovery procedure.
You want enough information to reconstruct or troubleshoot the original configuration if something goes wrong.
Microsoft recommends collecting basic diagnostic information before performing the upgrade and storing the output away from the server itself.
From an elevated PowerShell session, you can capture the current build and edition:
Get-ComputerInfo -Property WindowsBuildLabEx,WindowsEditionID |
Out-File .\computerinfo.txt
Record the broader system configuration:
systeminfo.exe | Out-File .\systeminfo.txt
And capture the IP configuration:
ipconfig /all | Out-File .\ipconfig.txt
Copy those files to another system or storage location.
For a production migration, go further. Document the current server roles, Windows services important to the application, scheduled tasks, certificates, drive layout, shares, firewall requirements, IP configuration and relevant application versions.
You are creating a known-good baseline against which the Windows Server 2025 system can later be compared.
“Rollback if something goes wrong” is too vague for a production change.
Define what failure actually means before starting.
For example, your rollback criteria might include an application service refusing to start, a database failing integrity or connectivity checks, critical network communication remaining unavailable after a defined troubleshooting period, a backup agent being unsupported, or the maintenance window reaching a predetermined cutoff without successful validation.
Also decide what rollback method you will use.
For a physical server, that may mean restoring the tested bare-metal or system-state recovery appropriate to the workload. For a virtual server, you may have platform-level recovery options, but do not assume that taking a VM snapshot immediately before every type of server upgrade is automatically an adequate backup strategy. The recovery design needs to match the application and infrastructure role.
A written rollback condition prevents an administrator from spending another three hours troubleshooting after the point at which the business expected service to be restored.
Installation media remains the straightforward upgrade method for a non-Azure, nonclustered Windows Server.
Microsoft supports using an ISO image, USB drive or DVD for the target version. The procedure is started from the existing Windows Server installation rather than by booting from the media.
Install applicable Windows Server 2022 updates and reboot if required. Verify that there are no pending production changes waiting for another restart.
Confirm that backups have completed and that your diagnostic files are stored somewhere other than the server.
For a Hyper-V host, shut down or migrate its running VMs before proceeding. If NIC Teaming is configured, account for Microsoft’s upgrade restriction and prepare to disable it before the upgrade.
Mount the Windows Server 2025 ISO from within the running Windows Server 2022 environment.
Open the mounted media and run: setup.exe
Do not boot from the installation media if your objective is to preserve the existing applications, settings and roles through an in-place upgrade. The in-place workflow is launched from the existing Windows installation.
Windows Server Setup can download current updates as part of the preparation process.
For an internet-connected server, allowing Setup to retrieve applicable updates can simplify the process. In a controlled enterprise environment, you may instead follow your organization’s tested media and patch-management procedure.
The important point is consistency with the migration plan rather than automatically selecting whichever option appears fastest.
Setup may request a Windows Server 2025 product key depending on the media and licensing channel.
Licensing entitlement and technical upgrade eligibility are separate questions. A server being technically capable of upgrading from 2022 to 2025 does not by itself grant a Windows Server 2025 license. Microsoft’s upgrade guidance requires an appropriate target-version product key and activation method.
If your migration includes purchasing the target release, determine the required edition and core licensing before the maintenance window rather than trying to resolve it during Setup.
Select the intended Windows Server 2025 edition.
For the normal same-edition migration, that means Standard to Standard or Datacenter to Datacenter. Standard can also move to Datacenter where that edition change is intentional and appropriately licensed, but Datacenter cannot be downgraded to Standard through the in-place upgrade. Microsoft Learn
Also make sure you have not accidentally selected an installation option incompatible with your current Server Core or Desktop Experience configuration.
This is the critical in-place selection.
Choose Keep files, settings, and apps.
Microsoft’s documented in-place process uses this option to retain the existing server configuration while moving to the newer operating-system release. Setup then analyzes the machine before presenting the final Ready to install screen.
If the option to retain files, settings and applications is unavailable, do not continue as though that were a harmless Setup variation. Stop and determine why the intended in-place path is not being offered.
Check the source edition, target media, language, installation type and licensing channel before proceeding.
Before selecting Install, verify the screen carefully.
Confirm that:
Then begin the installation.
The server restarts multiple times while Setup replaces the operating-system components and carries the existing configuration forward.
Do not treat the first successful logon as completion. The upgrade is complete only after the workload passes its validation tests.
Microsoft also supports upgrading eligible Windows Server 2022 systems to Windows Server 2025 as a feature update through Windows Update.
This option can remove the need to mount installation media, but it still requires the same application, backup and recovery preparation as an ISO-based upgrade. A simpler delivery mechanism does not make the underlying operating-system change lower risk.
As of Microsoft’s current guidance, the Windows Update route requires the appropriate cumulative update on Windows Server 2022 before the Windows Server 2025 feature update can be offered. The documented baseline is the March 2026 Windows Server 2022 cumulative update KB5078766 or later.
Microsoft’s current procedure also uses the AllowWindowsServerFeatureUpdate policy setting to enable the Windows Server feature update. Once the prerequisites are satisfied, the Windows Server 2025 update can be downloaded and installed from Windows Update. Server Core can use the Windows Update functionality through SConfig.
For tightly managed production systems, installation media may still be easier to stage and test predictably. The better method is the one that fits your change-management and validation process.
Do not hand the server back to users immediately after Windows Server 2025 reaches the sign-in screen.
First confirm the operating system itself.
Microsoft recommends using:
Get-ComputerInfo -Property WindowsProductName
Verify that the reported Windows product and edition are what you expected.
Then work outward from the operating system to the application.
Check networking and DNS resolution. Compare the current IP configuration with the pre-upgrade record. Confirm required Windows services and server roles are running. Review Device Manager or your hardware-management tooling for driver problems. Verify storage volumes and drive letters. Confirm backup and monitoring agents have returned to a healthy state.
Then test the actual business workload.
A successful ping proves almost nothing about whether the migration succeeded. If this is an IIS application server, test the application. If it is a file server, test shares and permissions from a client. If it hosts a database application, test the service and client transaction path. If it is a Hyper-V host, validate the virtualization environment before returning production VMs.
Microsoft’s own post-upgrade guidance specifically calls for testing applications and confirming that client connections work after the operating-system upgrade.
Activation should be part of post-migration verification rather than something discovered days later.
You can inspect the Windows activation state with supported Windows licensing tools, but remember that activation is not the same as licensing entitlement. Successful activation does not answer whether the organization has purchased and assigned the necessary Windows Server licensing correctly.
If the server is moving to a different edition as part of the project, confirm that the new edition matches both the workload design and the licensing plan.
For a physical server or a comparatively low-density Windows Server virtualization environment where Standard is appropriate, you can evaluate the Windows Server 2025 Standard Core-Based license.
For a virtualization-heavy host or environment where Datacenter is the appropriate target edition, evaluate the Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Core-Based license.
Do not assume that the number of CPU sockets, VM vCPUs or logical processors directly tells you how many Windows Server core licenses are required. Establish the physical host configuration and the applicable licensing rules separately.
If Setup fails or the upgraded server does not behave as expected, preserve the evidence before making a series of unrelated changes.
Microsoft identifies the Windows Setup logs under: C:\Windows\Panther
Those logs can help identify the phase and component responsible for an unsuccessful upgrade. Microsoft also recommends SetupDiag for analyzing Windows Setup log information.
Compare the post-upgrade state with the diagnostic files you created before the change.
That gives you concrete questions to investigate: Did an adapter configuration change? Is the expected edition installed? Did a required service disappear? Is an application failing because of the OS, a driver, authentication, firewall behavior or an unsupported dependency?
Troubleshooting from recorded before-and-after states is much faster than reconstructing the original configuration from memory.
The existence of a supported 2022-to-2025 upgrade path does not make it the preferred choice for every workload.
Use a side-by-side migration when you are replacing the hardware anyway, when application testing on the new OS needs to happen before the production cutover, when the server has accumulated years of obsolete software and configuration, or when retaining the original Windows Server 2022 instance intact creates a much cleaner rollback path.
Microsoft supports migration for many Windows Server roles and provides Windows Server Migration Tools for applicable roles and settings. File and storage workloads can also use Storage Migration Service. Some roles support both in-place upgrades and migrations; others have more specialized migration requirements.
A domain controller is an especially clear example: build a new Windows Server 2025 DC, validate replication and supporting services, transfer responsibilities as required and demote the old system rather than treating the machine like a generic member server.
For critical infrastructure, the extra work of side-by-side migration often buys something valuable: a production rollback boundary.
Use an in-place upgrade when the Windows Server 2022 machine is healthy, staying on the same hardware, running supported applications and roles, and can tolerate the required maintenance window.
Use a side-by-side migration or clean deployment when you are replacing hardware, redesigning the server, changing between Server Core and Desktop Experience, modernizing a domain controller, or need an easier route back to the original production system.
Use the cluster-specific upgrade process rather than this generic procedure when the server belongs to a failover cluster.
Whichever route you choose, do not make the Windows Setup wizard the first step in the project. Verify application compatibility, document the existing environment, prove the backup, define the rollback point and decide how the workload will be validated before the maintenance window starts.
The actual Windows Server 2022 to Windows Server 2025 installation is usually the straightforward part. A safe migration is the preparation before it and the validation afterward.
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