Now available, Windows Server 2025 builds upon our commitment to providing a secure and high-performing platform that caters to a variety of customer needs. This new version empowers you to deploy applications seamlessly across any environment, including on-premises setups, hybrid models, and cloud-based systems.
Advanced multilayered security
In an age where cybersecurity is critical (see the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024 and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Healthcare Ransomware Report), Windows Server 2025 distinguishes itself with a comprehensive suite of security features aimed at protecting your data and systems. Some significant capabilities include:
- Active Directory (AD): The benchmark for identity and authentication continues to evolve, introducing enhanced security measures to better protect your environment against new threats, alongside improved scalability, protocols, encryption, hardening, and cryptographic support.
- File services/server message block (SMB) hardening: This version incorporates SMB over QUIC, allowing secure access to file shares via the internet, along with fortified firewall defaults and defensive features against brute force attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, relay attacks, and phishing attempts.
- Delegate Managed Service Accounts (dMSA): These accounts, unlike traditional service accounts, automatically manage passwords via AD, allowing delegated permissions to access domain resources and enhancing security while providing better oversight of service account activities.
With these advanced security measures, Windows Server 2025 emerges as a highly secure platform for your IT framework that you should start evaluating right away.
Cloud agility anywhere
This release introduces a range of advanced hybrid cloud features aimed at boosting operational flexibility and connectivity across diverse environments. Key functionalities include:
- Hotpatching enabled by Azure Arc: For customers fully in the cloud, there are automatic updates and recovery services. Now, these advantages extend to on-premises customers of Windows Server 2025 through a new hotpatching subscription service made possible by Azure Arc, which minimizes downtime and operational disruptions while deploying security updates.
- Easy Azure Arc onboarding: Windows Server 2025 integrates Azure’s powerful capabilities into your on-premises environment through Azure Arc, simplifying the buyer’s journey into Azure’s hybrid features and enhancing management and security across multicloud settings.
- Software-defined network (SDN) multisite capabilities: These features facilitate native L2 and L3 connectivity for seamless workload migration, along with unified network policy management.
- Unified network policy management: This function allows for centralized management of network policies, ensuring consistent security and performance across your hybrid cloud structures.
This flexibility in hybrid cloud capabilities makes Windows Server 2025 a fitting choice for organizations seeking to refine their IT framework while merging on-premises and cloud advantages.
AI, performance, and scale
Windows Server 2025 is tailored to accommodate the most challenging workloads, including AI and machine learning tasks. Key features include:
- Hyper-V, AI, and machine learning: This edition comes with built-in GPU partition support and the capability to process extensive data across distributed systems, providing a high-performance platform ideal for both traditional applications and complex AI demands.
- NVMe storage performance: Expect up to 60% improvement in storage IOPs compared to Windows Server 2022 on comparable hardware.
- Storage Spaces Direct with enhanced flexibility: Windows Server supports various storage solutions such as local, NAS, and SAN, and introduces innovations like Native ReFS deduplication, compression, thin provisioning, and Storage Replica Compression accessible across all editions.
- Hyper-V performance enhancements: Windows Server 2025 integrates substantial performance and scalability upgrades inspired by Azure, offering maximum memory and processor thresholds per VM significantly higher than previous versions.
Windows Server 2025 brings groundbreaking upgrades in Hyper-V, GPU integration, software-defined storage, networking, and clustering, establishing it as an exceptional solution for firms striving for powerful virtualization and making the most of AI and machine learning while ensuring top-tier performance.
System Center 2025 is available now
In conjunction with the release of System Center 2025, management at scale for Windows Server is now attainable, allowing organizations to leverage the latest features immediately. This management solution boosts agility, efficiency, and security, enhancing how organizations can optimize their infrastructure. We invite you to explore the System Center 2025 blog for further insights.
Microsoft Ignite 2024
We eagerly anticipate meeting you personally and showcasing these features at the Microsoft Ignite conference in Chicago from November 19-21. For those unable to attend, many sessions, including our focused Windows Server session titled Windows Server 2025: New Ways to Gain Cloud Agility and Security, will be available for online viewing.
We are also thrilled about providing new features to users of existing Windows Server versions, including 2016, 2019, 2022, and beyond. Customers covered by Windows Server Software Assurance or active subscriptions can access various Azure management tools at no additional cost. Be sure to attend Microsoft Ignite for more demos and information on these new offerings.
Additional Windows Server resources
- Try Windows Server 2025 today
- Windows Server documentation
- Discover more about Windows Server 2025
- Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate
- Administer Active Directory Domain Services
Notes
- ** Note: compute and storage may incur additional fees.