Microsoft invests in Windows Server with upcoming Windows Server 2025

Mary Jo Foley is the Editor in Chief at Directions on Microsoft. Before joining Directions, Mary Jo has worked as... more

Microsoft basically phoned it in with the last few Windows Server releases, which included relatively few new or updated features. They seemed primarily designed to appease certain customers who still wanted and needed an on-premises server OS.

But the next version of on-premises Windows Server, which will be available to customers in the second half of 2024, looks to be something quite different.

Unsurprisingly, the next release will be named “Windows Server 2025.” And perhaps surprisingly to some, it will still be a “perpetual” software product with five years of Mainstream support and five years of Extended support, not one that forces customers to subscribe to get regular features or security updates. Microsoft officials also have said the system requirements for Windows Server 2025 have not changed, so customers can upgrade all their existing Windows Servers to the new version.

“Overall, many of the Windows Server 2025 features either come directly from or are based on things that were introduced with Azure Stack HCI or Azure Edition,” said Directions on Microsoft analyst Jim Gaynor. “This goes along with what Microsoft said when they killed the SAC (Semi-Annual Channel). These other server OSs and editions ‘receive innovation’ first, and features are brought to the LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel) version if deemed worthy.”

Among the new features coming to Windows Server 2025, which Microsoft officials have shared publicly:

Windows Server hotpatching (physical, virtual, even other clouds), but Microsoft will require Servers to be Arc-enabled and orgs will incur an additional Azure subscription cost.
Server Message Block (SMB) over the QUIC always-encrypted protocol using TLS 1.3 for secure connections. This feature previously was in Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition only.
New domain and forest level, new Active Directory (AD) features and security updates. Note that none of these will be backported to earlier AD; all your Domain controllers will have to be Server 2025 to take advantage.
GPU partitioning for Hyper-V (allows multiple VMs to share portions of a GPU). But this capability is optimized more for AI functions and requires very new hardware.
Native Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) drivers for large performance increase with NVMe storage.
New pay-as-you-go subscription option.

Microsoft also is adding a new option for Windows Insider testers who want to flight new Windows Server test builds. And, after first appearing in a late 2023 patch to Windows Server 2022, a “wizard” to make it even easier to install Azure Arc will be included with Windows Server 2025.