Windows Server 2025 release brings cloud, security, and AI capabilities
Microsoft has announced the general availability of Windows Server 2025. The company said the latest release of one of its flagship products will enable organizations to deploy applications on-premises, in hybrid settings, or entirely in the cloud. Microsoft also touts Windows Server 2025 as the most secure Windows server it has released.
Built for the cloud
Windows Server 2025 comes with hybrid deployments at the core of its design, making it “an ideal choice for organizations looking to optimize their IT infrastructure and leverage the benefits of on-premises and cloud environments.” Some new features include:
Hotpatching via Azure Arc: Available through a subscription service, hotpatching delivers security updates with minimal downtime across Windows Server 2025 environments. Simplified Azure Arc setup: With an easier onboarding process, Azure management capabilities extend to on-premises environments, providing users with seamless control over their operations. Hybrid and multi-cloud deployment. Multi-site SDN features: New SDN capabilities support cross-site workload migration and improve network policy management, providing IT administrators with centralized control. Unified Network Policy Management: This feature enables centralized management of network policies, simplifying the process of maintaining consistent security and performance
Safe for every environment
Windows Server 2025 looks to build on Microsoft's “prioritize security above all else” initiative by including several new features that focus on the company's key core principles: secure by design, secure by default, and secure operations.
Microsoft highlighted some of these key new features in its announcement on Monday:
Active Directory (AD): The gold standard for identity and authentication only gets better with new security capabilities to help fortify your environment against evolving threats with greater scalability, improvements in protocols, cryptography, hardening, and new encryption support. File Services Hardening/Server Message Block (SMB): Windows Server 2025 includes SMB over QUIC to enable secure access to file shares over the Internet. SMB Security also adds strict firewall defaults, brute force attack prevention, and protection for man-in-the-middle attacks, relay attacks, and spoofing attacks. Delegated Managed Service Accounts (dMSA): Unlike traditional service accounts, dMSA doesn't require manual password management because AD takes care of it automatically. Using a dMSA, specific permissions can be delegated to access resources in the domain, reducing security risks and providing better visibility and logs of service account activity.
Artificial intelligence and performance enhancement
Windows Server 2025 delivers significant AI and performance improvements, especially through Hyper-V updates. With increased memory and processor limits, virtual machines can now use up to 240TB of memory and 2,048 virtual processors, dramatically increasing their ability to support resource-intensive workloads, according to Microsoft. These improvements position the platform as an ideal choice for demanding applications, from AI-driven operations to large-scale data analytics.
Additionally, Windows Server 2025 improves storage capabilities with NVMe technology, delivering up to 60 percent faster storage compared to Windows Server 2022, according to internal testing by Microsoft. This enhancement meets the needs of data-intensive applications, while innovations in Storage Spaces Direct allow for flexible storage configurations, the company said. Incorporating data deduplication and compression through the Native ReFS file system improves storage efficiency, making it easier for organizations to manage large amounts of data across different deployment setups.
“These improvements make Windows Server 2025 an excellent choice for organizations looking for a virtualization solution and for organizations looking to take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning while maintaining high performance and scalability,” Microsoft said.
System Center 2025 is also now available for organizations upgrading to Windows Server 2025.
Release errors
Microsoft has acknowledged some existing issues when installing or upgrading to Windows Server 2025. First, for non-English speaking customers installing Windows Server 2025 from a CD or USB, some text may appear in English.
Next, for those using Windows Server 2025 on servers with 256 or more logical processors, users may experience issues, including excessive startup times of more than three hours or a blue screen crash when starting or running an application. Microsoft said that while troubleshooting, users can manually set the number of logical processors to less than 256 to avoid errors.
Finally, those running Windows Server 2025 on iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface) technology may encounter an error message upon startup, saying “The boot device cannot be accessed.” Microsoft said a fix for this will arrive in a future monthly update.
For more information, read Microsoft's blog post.
