Windows Server 2022

Windows Server 2022 is the thirteenth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It was announced at Microsoft's Ignite event from March 2Ã¢ÂÂ4, 2021. It was released on August 18, 2021, almost 3 years after Windows Server 2019, and a few months before the Windows 11 operating system.

Windows Server 2022 is based on the "Iron" codebase, unlike Windows 10 21H2, which is based on the "Vibranium" codebase like its predecessor 20H2; this renders the updates between Windows 10 21H2 and Windows Server 2022 incompatible. Like its predecessor, Windows Server 2019, it requires x64 processors.

It was succeeded by Windows Server 2025 on November 1, 2024.

History

Microsoft announced Windows Server 2022 on February 22, 2021, scheduled for March 2. On March 3, Microsoft started distributing preview builds on Windows Update. Windows Server 2022 reached general availability on August 18, 2021.

Features

Windows Server 2022 has the following features:

Security

Enhanced boot-time security via TPM 2.0 and System Guard (a component of Microsoft Defender Antivirus)
Credential Guard
Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity (HVCI)
UEFI Secure Boot
Protection against malicious attacks via the DMA path
DNS over HTTPS
AES-256 encryption of SMB traffic
SMB over QUIC instead of TCP

Storage

Storage Migration Service (SMS)
Compression of SMB traffic

Cloud

Azure hybrid capabilities

Software

Microsoft Edge

Editions

Essentials:

Only available through Microsoft OEM partners
Intended for small businesses
Supports a maximum of 25 users and 50 devices
Requires no client access licenses (CALs)

Standard:

Intended for physical or weak VCC environments
Only two virtual machines and one Hyper-V host are deemed usable.

Datacenter:

Intended for highly virtualized data centers and cloud environments

Azure Datacenter:

Designed for the Microsoft Azure platform