Download Windows Server 2025 (Azure, VHD, ISO) here

Download Windows Server 2025 (Azure, VHD, ISO) here.

Microsoft has made the Public Preview of Windows Server 2025 available. You can download and install Windows Server 2025 on a virtual machine (VM) or your own computer if you have registered for the Windows Server Insider for Business program.

Do not worry if you have not signed up for the Windows Insider for Business program; this article will guide you through the process of downloading, installing, and configuring Windows Server 2025.

Windows Server 2025 is still in preview as of this writing, so production deployment is not possible. To ensure that Windows Server 2025 meets all of your needs and works with your present network setup, you can test it in a lab setting using Windows Server 2025 Preview.

Windows 11 is now Desktop Shell. Windows 10 architecture serves as the foundation for the Windows Server 2022 interface. Nevertheless, the new Windows 11 interface is included with Windows Server 2025.

Windows Server Preview will automatically switch to the Windows 11 layout when you log in for the first time. You can alter it to suit your preferences.

This version of Windows Server also appears to include the widgets panel. Given that this version is Windows 11 with the Server Manager, the user made a comment.

Feature of 32k Database Page Size

Microsoft has been using 8K database page size since Windows 2000. However, the new 32k database page size is used by Windows Server 2025. Many restrictions can now be broken, such as the 8k bytes that were formerly the maximum size for an AD object. Multi-valued attributes can now store up to 3200 values, which is 2.6 times more than they could in the past.

Updates to the AD Schema Three new LDF files are introduced in Windows Server 2025:

sch89.ldf

sch90.ldf

sch91.ldf

In order to accommodate new features and capabilities added in Windows Server 2025, these files expand the AD schema by adding new classes and properties or changing ones that already exist. With these changes, an Active Directory object's capability will be expanded by the ability to assign additional characteristics and properties, as well as new user and computer object kinds.

Functional levels of the New Forest and Domain Both Forest and Domain now operate at the higher functional level of Windows Server 2025.

For Windows Server 2025, the release of DomainLevel 10 and ForestLevel 10 denotes new functional capabilities unique to this edition.

The new functional levels will not be backported to Windows Server 2019 and2022, as Microsoft has already said. The company will need to update to Windows Server 2025 in order to utilize the new functional levels.

The security, manageability, and performance of AD environments may all be enhanced by the additional capabilities and advancements brought about by the new functional levels.

Accounts & Email In Windows Server 2025, go to Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts and add the following accounts:

Microsoft Entra ID

Microsoft account

Work or school account

Microsoft appears to be gradually moving away from the full SaaS model adoption by restricting Windows local user accounts.

Server Message Block (SMB) SMB is the main protocol that allows file sharing in Windows Server. Enhanced SMB over QUIC features, improved auditing capabilities for SMB signing and encryption, and optional 32k database pages are just a few of the SMB upgrades that Windows Server 2025 brings.

Administrators can control SMB languages, NTLM blocking for outgoing connections, impose encryption and signing requirements, and disable SMB over QUIC.

The LZ4 technique is now supported by SMB compression, and low-latency, encrypted connections can be established using SMB over QUIC for both Standard and Datacenter versions.

WindowsAdmx Copilot Microsoft has created a new GPO template designed exclusively for administering Copilot as it integrates it further into Windows.

Open the Group Policy Editor and navigate to the following tree in order to view the Copilot-related group policies:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot