Windows evolved a lot in the last years, what was once a headache for system administrators is now behind us since a few years. Microsoft now allow to convert a installed Windows Server 2016 Standard to Datacenter without having to re-install.
To achieve this, you will need to have in hand your Windows Server 2016 Datacenter product key.
1. Open the command prompt with elevated privileges
2. Enter the following command :
dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:Datacenter-Product-Key /AcceptEula
Example :
dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:00000-00000-00000-00000-00000 /AcceptEula
Output example :
C:\Windows\system32>dism /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:00000-00000-00000-00000-00000 /AcceptEula Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 10.0.14393.0 Image Version: 10.0.14393.0 Starting to update components... Starting to install product key... Finished installing product key. Removing package Microsoft-Windows-ServerStandardEdition~31bf3856ad364e45~amd64~~10.0.14393.0 [==========================100.0%==========================] Finished updating components. Starting to apply edition-specific settings... Restart Windows to complete this operation. Do you want to restart the computer now? (Y/N) y