How to Downgrade Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter to Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard?
Setup can only upgrade, not downgrade, so how is it possible? 1. Edit the registry to fool the Windows Setup to believe we are running on Windows Server 2012 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion EditionID=ServerStandard ProductName=Windows Server 2012 Standard 2. Run Setup, and you get the option to 'upgrade' to: Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (Core) Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard(GUI) Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (Core) Windows Server 2012 R2 datacenter (GUI) 3. Activate with Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard key slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx