Windows Server 2025 brings significant innovations for businesses. From improved security to hybrid cloud integration to new storage features – here's what you need to know.

Overview: The Most Important Innovations

Security

Hardware root of trust by default

Improved Credential Guard

New Secured-Core Server features

Hybrid Cloud

Deeper Azure Arc integration

Simplified cluster management

Better container support

Storage

New ReFS features

Improved Storage Spaces Direct

Native NVMe optimizations

Security Improvements in Detail

Secured-Core Server

Windows Server 2025 makes Secured-Core the standard:

Virtualization-based Security (VBS): Isolates critical processes

Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity (HVCI): Prevents unsigned code

Credential Guard: Protects credentials in hardware

New Authentication

Kerberos improvements for modern environments

Better support for passwordless authentication

Extended Windows Hello for Business integration

SMB Security

SMB over QUIC for secure connections

Improved SMB signing performance

New encryption options

Azure Hybrid Integration

Azure Arc for Servers

Unified management of on-premises and cloud

Use Azure services on local hardware

Centralized monitoring and compliance

Hotpatching

Apply updates without restart

Drastically reduced downtime

Especially important for critical systems

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Run hybrid Kubernetes locally

Unified container orchestration

Seamless migration between on-prem and cloud

Storage Innovations

ReFS (Resilient File System)

Block cloning for fast copies

Improved data deduplication

Better performance for large files

Storage Spaces Direct (S2D)

Easier setup and management

Better performance through new algorithms

Extended fault tolerance options

NVMe Support

Native support for NVMe over Fabrics

Better performance for flash storage

Optimized drivers

Hyper-V Improvements

GPU Partitioning

Share GPUs between VMs

Ideal for AI and ML workloads

Better resource utilization

Nested Virtualization

Run VMs in VMs more efficiently

Important for development and test

Improved performance

Live Migration

Faster migration of VMs

Less downtime

Better compression

Networking Features

Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Simplified management

Better performance

Extended segmentation

DNS Improvements

Faster resolution

Better security (DNSSEC)

Extended analysis capabilities

Planning Migration

Prerequisites

Check compatible hardware

Current drivers available?

Test application compatibility

Recommended Process

1. Set up test environment

2. Test critical applications

3. Migrate pilot group

4. Gradual rollout

5. Retire old servers

Timeline

Now: Start evaluation

Q2 2025: Pilot projects

Q3-Q4 2025: Production migration

Licensing

Changes

Still core-based licensing

New cloud options

Note CAL requirements

Recommendation

License consulting before migration

Check Azure Hybrid Benefit

Calculate Total Cost of Ownership

Conclusion

Windows Server 2025 brings real improvements, especially for hybrid scenarios and security. Migration is worthwhile – but only with good planning.

Migration Workshop

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Windows Server 2025: What's New?