upgrading win2k to win2k server

Is that possible? I don't want to format and reinstall ..this is for home use and i am wondering if there is a way to upgrade win2k to 2k sever for some reason. help would be highly appreceated

thanks.

I have never tried it :confused: If I want server I buy it, if I want desktop I buy it.

There might be a purchase discount, but if you can load server over the top of Win2k client I would say it would be by accident rather than design. I do not think that it is something you are supposed to want to do :)

Try looking for "dual booting" but I am not sure which one you are supposed to load first. You might be able to do it with a decent third party partition manager? they should allow you to run all sorts of OSes on different partitions of the same box.

Sorry I cannot be of more help, I just hope that I have pointed you in the right direction for further research.

Whatever you do, make sure you back up your data first!!! and defragment your drive:eek:

Cheers

EDIT: Sorry, the discount is upgrading from NT4 Server

So you mean, I ccan just re-install (2k server) over the top of win2k without formatting?

You could try to, but I am not sure what would happen. :eek:

For example you can dual boot XP and NT4 or one of the home OSes but you need to load the home OS first and then the NT based one, as this is the one that supports dual booting.

I would try a google search and the Microsoft support site looking for dual booting of Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Server.

Cheers

EDIT: My you are a lucky chap

http://labmice.techtarget.com/FAQ/win2000faq.htm

The last item on this page is about how to dual boot Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Server :D

Good luck...............and BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!!!!!!!!!! (first)

Lol... Thanks a lot nihil, I think I already have a multiboot PC :P using PCommander I have a multiboot of 2k pro(60GB), 2k server(8GB) ..which was initially installed intending for learning purpose only and the red hat p :P,

Thing is, Now I want that 2k partition to be 2k server so that I can setup a domain in home ( also learning and fun :P ) without loosing any setting or documents into it.

backup :O , If i start backing up it will take atleast 50 cd's ( wyou should know how expensive it is in england :P) Is there any weired way to back up ...?? I have 40Gb woth of files.

Hmmm,

How much spare space have you got on your current HDD?

40Gb sounds like an awful lot of files to me.............are they all data? you don't need to back up the operating system, pagefile etc, and I expect you have a lot of the other stuff on Cds anyway (games etc) you only need to back up data.

There are people who offer online backup storage, but I have never been down that route myself. Remember that your upload connection is about half the speed of your download one.

You should be able to get a 50 pack of CDs for about £20............check out DABS and people like that. Otherwise, maybe it is time to upgrade your machine with a second HDD, and use that? Perhaps you could borrow one? Otherwise if you are on a network you might be able to use a file server temporarily? or even another PC.

Am I right in thinking that you basically want to make the 60Gb partition run Win2000 server, and you no longer require Win2000Pro?

I am very cautious here as I know several people who have lost data when trying to do this sort of thing using third party partition management tools. They tend to work fine when you first set the machine up, but not when you have been running for a while.

When I set up a system I will create one partition for each operating system, at least one partition for applications software and at least one for data files.

I am a little confused, as you already have Win2000 server on a partition..............can't you just use that and access the files on the Win2000Pro partition, which is where I assume that you have your data files?

It is a long time since I have used PC Commander (mine is on 3.5" floppies!) so I am not sure how it works these days. Do you still boot into the PC Commander screen then select which OS to boot from there or do you go into a Windows multiboot screen?

Cheers

Thanks again nihil, Yes I boot into Partition commander screen and choose OS. May be it's good to access file into 2kpro from 2kserver i did a little trick here, I installed 2kserver in the same drive as 2kpro is, just changed the directory :P

[QOUTE]Am I right in thinking that you basically want to make the 60Gb partition run Win2000 server, and you no longer require Win2000Pro?[/QUOTE]

You are absolutely right nihil. that's what I want.

Quote:

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May be it's good to access file into 2kpro from 2kserver i did a little trick here, I installed 2kserver in the same drive as 2kpro is, just changed the directory :P

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By "directory" do you mean "logical drive"? and did you use Partition Commander to do this.

In theory you should be able to uninstall Win2000Pro from within Partition Commander. And, as Partition Commander is supposed to keep OSes from "seeing" eachother, that should work. My main concern is shared files, there shouldn't be any......but that is the theory.

Please check your Partition Commander instructions for uninstalling an OS.

I would still do a backup, unless you don't mind losing your data?

Cheers

cheers,

sorry for the confusion, actually when I install 2kserver, didn't use PCmdr but did it by booting from 2k Cd :) so whole thing is messed up now.

Soory different directory means different folder, I guess when we install 2k pro system files reside at C:\WINNT, so while installing 2kserver I did it by creating new folder C:\RAJUNPL :D

that's it...yeah main concern is data...Having both OS at C: I think I can access data to both folder. Am I right?