How to Install Windows Server 2025

What is Server 2025

Windows Server 2025 is the latest version of Microsoft’s server operating system, currently in public preview. It’s designed to be a secure, high-performing platform for businesses, with a focus on hybrid cloud capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI).

Here are some key features of Windows Server 2025:

Improved security: It boasts advanced security features to protect your infrastructure.
Enhanced performance: Delivers faster storage options and streamlined management for better performance.
Hybrid cloud integration: Integrates well with hybrid cloud environments, making infrastructure management more flexible.
AI-ready: Prepared for future AI workloads with features that support AI computations.
Easier updates: Offers a simplified update process to keep your system running smoothly.
Subscription option: Provides a pay-as-you-go subscription model alongside the traditional perpetual license.

Server 2025 new features

Here are some of the new features rumored to be available in Windows Server 2025:

Next-generation Active Directory (AD): This includes support for 32k page-sized Active Directory databases (compared to 8k in previous versions) for improved scalability and performance. Additionally, there’s a new functional level for forests and domains, requiring migration of domain controllers to leverage the 32k database capability.
Storage performance boost: Expect up to 90% faster storage IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) due to advancements with Native Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) SSDs. Enhancements have also been made to Storage Replica, including compression across all editions and new capabilities with deduplication and Storage Spaces.
Pumped-up Hyper-V: Hyper-V in Windows Server 2025 is expected to support a staggering 1,792 virtual processors per virtual machine, along with a whopping 29.7 terabytes of RAM. Another exciting addition is GPU partitioning (GPU-P), allowing a single GPU to be shared across multiple VMs with support for Live Migration and failover clustering.
Security Enhancements: Windows Server 2025 is expected to prioritize security with features like stronger encryption methods (AES replacing RC4) and policy enforcement for LDAP communication using TLS 1.3. Additionally, some older and potentially risky protocols like SAM-RPCs might be blocked by default.
Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) support: Active Directory is expected to take advantage of NUMA hardware, utilizing CPUs across all processor groups for improved performance, going beyond the 64 core limitation of previous versions.

System Requirements

Server 2025 Hardware Requirements	Description
Processor	1.4 GHz 64-bit processor Compatible with x64 instruction set Supports NX and DEP, CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHF, and PrefetchW
Memory/RAM	512 MB (2 GB for Server with Desktop Experience installation option) ECC (Error Correcting Code) type or similar technology, for physical host deployments
Disk Space	Minimum 32 GB (Windows Server 2025 using the Server Core installation option)
Network Requirements	An Ethernet adapter capable of at least 1 gigabit per second throughput Compliant with the PCI Express architecture specification
Additional	UEFI 2.3.1c-based system and firmware that supports secure boot Trusted Platform Module Graphics device and monitor capable of Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher-resolution

How to download Server 2025

Head over to the Microsoft Evaluation Center for Windows Server 2025 Preview

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewserver

Choose your download preference:

Try Windows Server Preview on Azure: This option lets you try out the server in Microsoft’s cloud platform.
Download the ISO: This allows you to download an installation image file that you can use to install Windows Server 2025 on your own hardware or a virtual machine.
Download the VHD: This is a virtual hard disk file that you can import into a virtualization software like Hyper-V to create a pre-configured virtual machine with Windows Server 2025.