This Edition Cannot Be Upgraded Error in Windows Server

I will tell you that this is one of the frustrating errors you may encounter while managing Windows Server environments. The error comes in Windows Server as “This edition cannot be upgraded.”

I received this error while trying to activate the Windows Server Datacenter. You can see the error in the screenshot below:

For you it’s important to understand why this error happens. Windows Server edition upgrades follow specific paths, and not all upgrade scenarios are supported. This limitation exists because different editions have different feature sets and licensing requirements.

The most common scenarios where you’ll encounter this error include:

• Attempting to upgrade from Evaluation to Standard/Datacenter edition
• Trying to convert between certain editions using inappropriate methods
• Working with an edition that has expired beyond the grace period
• Using an incorrect or mismatched product key for your server edition

This Edition Cannot Be Upgraded

Before we activate the Windows server with the key we have, we need to ensure that we are eligible for upgrading to the full version. So, we will know the current and eligible versions of Windows Server with the following PowerShell commands.

DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition

To know the possible target version of the Windows Server run the below PowerShell command,

DISM /online /Get-TargetEditions

Now that we know the target version, run the following PowerShell command to activate Windows.

DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

Now our Windows server is activated successfully !!! You can see below that the Windows edition is Windows Server Datacenter.

I hope this tutorial help to fix the error, “This edition cannot be upgraded” error while upgrading to Windows Server Datacenter.

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Krishna Vandanapu

I am Krishna.Vandanapu a SharePoint architect working in IT from last 13+ years, I worked in SharePoint 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and Office 365. I have extensive hands on experience in customizing SharePoint sites from end to end. Expertise in SharePoint migration tools like Sharegate, Doc Ave and Metalogix. Migrated SharePoint sites from SharePoint 2007 to 2010 and 2010 to 2013 several times seamlessly. Implementing CSOM with Microsoft best practices. Spent quality time in configuring SharePoint application services like User Profile, Search, Managed Meta data services etc. Now exploring SharePoint Framework and SharePoint 2019