Network Management

Best practice for In-place Windows operating system upgrade for SolarWinds Platform installed on Virtual Machines.

This article describes the best approach regarding upgrading the virtual machine that houses the current deployment for the SolarWinds Platform.

First published date

1/14/2020 4:05 PM

Last published date

6/8/2026 3:58 PM

Overview

This is for clients whose environments are housed on a virtual machine and who plan to upgrade the Windows server operating system and the SolarWinds Platform in-place. This article describes the best approach regarding upgrading the virtual machine that houses the current deployment of the SolarWinds Platform.

Product section

Orion Platform

Resolution

The best approach for upgrading the SolarWinds Platform housed on virtual machines is to build a new machine rather than doing an in-place upgrade of the Operating System, then proceeding to do an upgrade.

When upgrading the Windows operating system, it is important to ensure .NET Framework 4.8 and above is installed with the latest version of SolarWinds Platform. By default, Windows Server 2022 and 2025 should have .NET Framework 4.8 preinstalled. Previous versions of Windows Servers, additional steps may be necessary to install .NET Framework 4.8 and above. Please refer to the following Microsoft documentation for more information.

If no new server is available, the best practice is to uninstall SolarWinds on the server, do the in-place OS upgrade, and then reinstall SolarWinds.

Disclaimer: Please note, any content posted herein is provided as a suggestion or recommendation to you for your internal use. This is not part of the SolarWinds software or documentation that you purchased from SolarWinds, and the information set forth herein may come from third parties. Your organization should internally review and assess to what extent, if any, such custom scripts or recommendations will be incorporated into your environment. You elect to use third-party content at your own risk, and you will be solely responsible for the incorporation of the same if any.