Late last week, or this last weekend Microsoft quietly updated the KB article for SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 2 to call out that if you have access to the MSDN or VL ISO media you can now install SharePoint 2010 on Windows Server 2012 R2. Here’s what they added:
Note: Deployments from the slipstream media at Microsoft Volume License Service Center (VLSC) and MSDN can now be performed on Windows Server 2012 R2 as of May 1, 2014.
This is great news for those of you that will be maintaining SharePoint 2010 for the foreseeable future but want all the cool new stuff in Windows Server 2012 R2. There is a piece missing though. If you do install this on Windows Server 2012 R2 you must either slipstream the February 2014 CU into the new ISO or immediately install the February 2014 CU after installation. The new ISO will install on Windows Server 2012 R2, but it’s not supported on it, if that makes sense.
There are a couple of other notes. First, SharePoint does not support installing Service Pack 2, the February 2014 CU and then upgrading the OS to Windows Server 2012 R2. It must be a fresh installation. I can hear those of you with existing SharePoint 2010 farms getting anxious. Don’t worry, it’s okay, we can get you there. If you dream of Windows Server 2012 R2 servers in your existing SharePoint 2010 it can still be a reality, you just have to work into it a little bit. First, make sure your existing SharePoint 2010 is at the February 2014 CU level (14.0.7116.5000) or higher. Then build a brand new Windows Server 2012 R2 server and install SharePoint 2010 SP2 with the new MSDN or VL ISO. Then patch it to February 2014 CU or whatever patch level your farm is at. You can then add it to your existing farm. If you go that route I would plan to do all the servers in your farm, and sooner rather than later. Each time you add a Windows Server 2012 R2 to your farm, pull out one of the older Windows Servers until they’re all gone. You should plan for that changeover to take days, not weeks, or fortnights. (I’ve clearly been watching too much Game of Thrones).
Also make sure you have a good backup of each of your old servers. Shamefully we all have those file system level tweaks that we’ve made, then forgotten about. Web.config is the usual place they hide out, but they show up other places too. You’ll need to do those by hand when you add the new servers to your farm. The same goes for SSL certs, or any other certs you have.
Good luck. Leave a comment below if you go this route. Let us all know how it turned out.
As always you can keep up to date on all the SharePoint 2010 mayhem at http://www.toddklindt.com/sp2010builds and you can follow my SharePoint 2010 Patches twitter account to get breaking news about SharePoint 2010 patches.
Here is the official SharePoint 2010 support for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 KB article. It was last updated to Rev 12 November 21, 2013. It will likely get updated again.
tk