I currently have a Windows server 2003 Datacenter R2 server(32-bit).. I want to make it a Windows server 2008 Datacenter(64-bit) machine.. Here are my thoughts for moving my AD over, let me know what everyone thinks..

1. On my desktop pc(Windows XP), create a VMWare virtual machine and install server 2003 on it..

2. Make the virtual machine a BDC in the forest and also make it a global catalog server..

3. Dcpromo down the main server 2003 Datacenter R2 machine while keeping the virtual machine running on my xp machine..

4. Install server 2008 on what was the 2003 R2 machine..

5. Add it as a BDC in the forest and also make it a global catalog server..

6. Dcpromo down the virtual machine..

Is this the correct steps?
I only have 3 users in AD so its not a big deal to just install server 2008 and re-create my AD from scratch but I wanted to see if I could make the transition work..

I prefer clean installs and AD newly setup (again)

Server software has come a long way, it's very big, better to just redo it

Very true.. I probably will just do a fresh install of everything..