Windows Server 2025: Core Feature Updates and 10 More Years of Support

• Microsoft released Windows Server 2025, the latest LTSC version of Windows Server, to general availability in Nov. 2024.
• It includes enhanced core features like Active Directory, storage services, and Hyper-V, and continues to offer 10 years of support.
• Active Directory improvements, while attractive, require forest-wide upgrades and careful planning to take full advantage of new capabilities.
• Customers should hold off on adoption until new features mature and other server applications and tools are updated for compatibility.

The latest Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) version of Windows Server, Windows Server 2025, is generally available. New and enhanced features focus on infrastructure roles, security, and scalability. This version incorporates capabilities previously introduced in Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition and Azure Local (formerly Stack HCI). Windows Server 2025 has the same hardware requirements, support policy for Microsoft 365 Apps, and Mainstream and Extended support life-cycle as the 2022 version. (See the chart “Windows Server Support Timeline”.) Organizations should begin evaluating Window Server 2025, but they should wait for broader compatibility from related services and tools, availability in Azure VM marketplace images, and other signs of maturity before broad adoption.