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Evaluation Center

Windows Server 2025 Preview

Overview

Windows Server 2025, now available in preview, delivers next-generation security improvements, and hybrid cloud capabilities into a modernized and future ready platform. Download this preview to evaluate upcoming Windows Server 2025 features.

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Please select your product experience:
 

Description

Microsoft Windows Server 2025 prepares you for tomorrow while delivering the security, performance, and flexibility you need today. Be more productive with easier networking, faster storage, and hybrid cloud capabilities that adapt to your needs. Get ahead of what’s next with forward-looking security, and AI-ready compute.

Some key improvements include:

  • Hybrid: Adapt quickly across hybrid, cloud and edge. Easier to connect to Azure Arc to bridge on-premises and cloud-based servers. Deliver Azure capabilities to your on-premises servers.
  • Security: Hardware and software-level security to deter cyberattacks; next-generation Active Directory that improves security and scalability. Enable a tailored security baseline and  configure drift protection from the start.
  • Modern, future-ready platform: Windows Server 2025 is now easier to upgrade and scale, with better-than-ever app compatibility. Windows Server 2025 desktop brings consistent client and server UI experience, plus conveniences like WiFi and Bluetooth.
  • Performance: Faster and easier networking and storage; live hotpatching for reduced downtime; GPU partitioning for inferencing at the edge. Improvements in flash-based storage make Windows Server an even better platform for SQL Server.

Ways to try Windows Server:

In addition to downloading the ISO, you can also try the new features through the following ways:

  • Try it in Azure: Azure provides a great way to test Windows Server 2025 with pre-built images.

Choose an edition and an installation option:

Customers who download the full ISO will need to choose an edition and an installation option. This ISO evaluation is for the Datacenter and Standard editions. Upon general availability you will select the edition and installation option that best suits your business’s needs.

Installation options:

  • Server Core: This is a smaller installation that includes the core components of Windows Server and supports all server roles but does not include a local graphical user interface (GUI). It is used for “headless” deployments which are managed remotely through Windows Admin Center, PowerShell, or other server management tools..
  • Server with Desktop Experience: This is the complete installation and includes a full GUI for customers who prefer this option.

When you complete your evaluation, you can convert your evaluation versions to retail.

Languages

  • ISO: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish
  • VHD: English

Evaluation options:

  • Windows Server 2025 on Microsoft Azure
  • Windows Server 2025 | 64-bit ISO
  • Windows Server 2025 | 64-bit VHD

Prerequisites

  1. Review Windows Server 2025 release notes and system requirements. 
  2. Register, then download and install. (Note: This evaluation edition expires in 180 days.)

Installation Guidelines

After installation, install the latest servicing package.

  • Run Windows Update
  • Evaluation versions of Windows Server must be activated over the internet in the first 10 days to avoid automatic shutdown.

Supporting products 

  • Windows Server is the platform for building an infrastructure of connected applications, networks, and web services, from the workgroup to the data center. It bridges on-premises environments with Azure, adding additional layers of security while helping you modernize your applications and infrastructure.

     

    Get started with Windows Server: 2022 | 2019 | 2016

  • Hyper-V Server provides a simple and reliable virtualization solution to help organizations improve their server utilization and reduce costs. The latest release of Hyper-V Server provides new and enhanced features that can help you deliver the scale and performance needs of your mission-critical workloads.

     

    Get started with Hyper-V Server: 2019 | 2016

  • Windows Admin Center is a locally deployed, browser-based app for managing Windows servers, clusters, hyper-converged infrastructure, as well as Windows 10 PCs. Giving you full control over all aspects of your server infrastructure, Windows Admin Center is particularly useful for managing servers on private networks that are not connected to the Internet.

     

    Get started with Windows Admin Center