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This week, Microsoft has been making some major announcements related to Windows drivers for hardware. First, the company is moving on from Device metadata and the Windows Metadata and Internet Services (WMIS) as it is deprecating the feature, and alongside that, an update to driver signing has also been announced. You can find the details in our dedicated article here. Alongside those, Microsoft has also announced new HLK and VHLK May 2025 releases. These are being referred to as refreshed versions and replaces the RTM version released in May 2024. It writes: For those not familiar, HLK or Hardware Lab Kit essentially helps hardware vendors ensure compatibility and fulfill the driver certification process. Thus, errata, in the context of HLK, refers to bugs or issues that may cause the certification test to "fail" on perfectly compatible hardware or drivers. VHLK is a similar thing, except it is designed with virtual environments, VHDs, and VMS in mind. The Windows HLK (and VHLK) comes under the gambit of the WHCP, or Windows Hardware Compatibility Program. It is a test framework designed to aid hardware vendors and Microsoft partners in testing and ensuring the proper compatibility of hardware and drivers on Windows 11 and 10, among others, such that they can receive the WHQL or Windows Hardware Quality Labs certification. The HLK driver brings several new tests for Bluetooth LE Audio and support for Generation 2 VMs in the case of the VHLK. You can find the full details here on the official Microsoft Tech Community blog post. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of April): 1,811 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Alongside new test capabilities for Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025, Microsoft shared news about two other significant changes regarding Windows hardware driver development earlier today. First, the company has announced the deprecation of Windows Device metadata and the Windows Metadata and Internet Services (WMIS). In a new blog post, Microsoft has explained: For those wondering what it is, device metadata, as the name suggests, is the collection of additional, user-facing information that an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides about a hardware device. The feature was introduced with Windows 7 and can include stuff like icons, logos, descriptive texts, among other things, that help the Windows UI display details about such devices in places like Task Manager or Device Manager. The metadata is presented via an XML file. Going forward, Microsoft recommends using the INF instead, which are setup information files for driver packages. You can find the details here on the official Tech Community blog post. Alongside the upcoming death of Device metadata and the Windows Metadata and Internet Services (WMIS), Microsoft has also announced changes for pre-production driver signing. Microsoft says that the current driver signing CA (certificate authority) or PCA 2010 is set to expire next month in June 2025. Microsoft has explained the timeline of events: You can find the details here on the official Microsoft Tech Community blog post. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of April): 1,811 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft released new Dynamic updates for Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 this week. Dynamic updates bring improvements to the Windows Recovery in the form of Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) updates, also called Safe OS updates, as well as to the Setup binaries in the form of Setup updates. The dynamic updates for Windows 11 24H2 also apply to Server 2025 as well. First, we have the Setup update. Microsoft writes: And about the WinRE updates Microsoft writes: For those who may not be aware, these Dynamic Update packages are meant to be applied to existing Windows images prior to their deployment. In a Tech Community blog post about Windows 10 Dynamic Updates, Microsoft explained Dynamic Updates in more detail regarding its various components and uses. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more: The Setup update is available for manual downloading from the Windows Update Catalog website. You can find them here: KB5053387. You can also avail of the WinRE updates manually there at KB5053143. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of February): 874 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

This week, Microsoft updated the webpages that track the features that are removed on Windows client and Windows Server. The company has confirmed that DES or Data Encryption Standard cipher is being removed from Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025. The tech giant reasons that the DES encryption algorithm is too old to be secure and thus it makes sense and is a part of the broader strategy to improve Windows security. Microsoft writes: For those who may not be familiar with it, DES is a symmetric cipher that was developed back in the 1970s. It uses a 56-bit key to encrypt and decrypt 64-bit data blocks. Triple DES is the recommended form of DES these days through 2030 by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Microsoft has also updated the Windows message center to inform IT admins and system administrators about the upcoming removal of DES in Kerberos on Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025. It recommends moving to AES or Advanced Encryption Standard which uses longer key lengths of 128, 192, or 256 bits. It says: Microsoft also now allows the default-encryption of Windows 11 24H2 Home PCs with AES-based BitLocker as it recently explained how system requirements like TPM play a key part in that. The company has also described how the disablement of DES in Kerberos will be done in two phases, Compatibility Mode and Disabled Mode: You can find a lot more details about it here on the Microsoft Tech Community blog post. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Earlier this week, Microsoft released KB5050094 Windows 11 24H2 optional non-security preview update. Alongside that, the company also pushed the corresponding dynamic updates. After skipping on Setup updates in December for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, Microsoft has once again published it this month alongside the one for Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), also called the Safe OS update. These dynamic updates apply to Server 2025 as well. Microsoft writes: For those who may not be aware, these Dynamic Update packages are meant to be applied to existing Windows images prior to their deployment. In a Tech Community blog post about Windows 10 Dynamic Updates, Microsoft explained Dynamic Updates in more detail regarding its various components and uses. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more: The Setup update is available for manual downloading from the Windows Update Catalog website. You can find it here: KB5050758. You can also avail of the WinRE update manually by visiting KB5053117. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft released January 2025 Patch Tuesday updates on Windows 10 under KB5049981 / KB5050008 / KB5049993 / KB5050013, and Windows 11 under KB5050009, KB5050021 last week. Alongside them, the company also released multiple new Recovery updates for Windows 10 as well as for Windows 11. Besides those, the tech giant has released an OOBE (out of box experience) update today for the newest Windows 11 version, 24H2, as well as Windows Server 2025. The update is available under KB5050575 and as is usually the case with such updates, the company has published a general changelog for it without going into any specific details about what it brings. Microsoft writes: These OOBE updates will install automatically during setup if the user has an active internet connection. In a separate document about OOBE, Microsoft explained what these OOBE updates deliver. It also notes that the downloading and installation time of the update depends on the users' hardware and internet connectivity. It writes: You can find the support article for KB5050575 here on Microsoft's official website. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Earlier this year in July, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 updates would be delivered using a new method. Called "Checkpoint Cumulative Updates," these are meant to lower download sizes and thus faster updates. Microsoft also says this will consequently reduce server-side load too. You can read about it in full in its dedicated article here. Following that, in September, Microsoft confirmed that the new way to push updates led to installation issues for Windows Update Standalone Installer (MSU) files on Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025 and some of these updates would fail with an "Operation is not supported” error message. In its guidance, Microsoft had explained how the issue was mainly related to FoD (features on Demand) and LP (language packs), and it had also provided a couple of methods to fix the issue. One of them involved manually installing the MSU (Windows Update Standalone Installer) package files in order and the other way was via the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) command line tool. Microsoft has since removed the manual installation method from its support article. Here is what it said previously: And here is what the new guidance page says: You can find the new support page here on Microsoft's official website. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Back in October of 2023, Microsoft expressed its desire to disable NTLM (New Technology LAN Manager) authentication. With the reduction in usage of the NTLM protocol, the company eventually wanted to disable it. Following that, in June earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed that it was deprecating NTML beyond Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 and thus, the feature would no longer be available in future Windows client and server versions. However, it looks like the company is now in a bit of a rush as it has already begun removing NTLM on Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025. This week, it announced that NTLMv1 has been removed from the aforementioned Windows editions. Microsoft has updated the notification on its deprecated features page which now says: The company has also informed about it on its removed features page: NTLM has shown how vulnerable it is in modern times and a recent example is 0patch issuing an unofficial micro-patch for such a security flaw. Aside from NTLMv1, another security feature has also been removed on Windows 11 24H2. First announced back in 2022, the company has confirmed that it has now removed Windows Information Protection (WIP) or enterprise data protection (EDP). The feature was meant to protect against accidental data leaks. Microsoft writes: You can find the list of removed features here on Microsoft's official site. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of November): 5,298 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft has released a new Windows Server 2025 build for Windows Insiders (Microsoft posted the changelog with a big delay). Build 26334 is the final release this year, so look out for the next update in January 2024. Meanwhile, here is what is new in Windows Server 2025 build 26334: Known issues in this update include the following: Windows Server build 26334 is valid until September 15, 2025. You can install it using the following keys: Server Standard: MFY9F-XBN2F-TYFMP-CCV49-RMYVH Datacenter: 2KNJJ-33Y9H-2GXGX-KMQWH-G6H67 Azure Edition does not accept a key You can find full release notes for Windows Server 2025 build 26334 here. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of November): 5,298 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft this week released an OOBE update for Windows 11 24H2 under KB5048779. Alongside that, the company has also released a Dynamic update for setup files. These are monthly updates the company rolls out, although this time, no standalone recovery update has been released. These are what Microsoft refers to as Safe OS updates and they comprise of Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) updates as well as Setup files updates. The setup update has been released under KB5047134 as the company writes: For those who may not be aware, these Dynamic Update packages are meant to be applied to existing Windows images prior to their deployment. In a Techcommunity blog post about Windows 10 Dynamic Updates, Microsoft explained Dynamic Updates in more detail regarding its various components and uses. These packages include fixes to Setup.exe binaries, SafeOS updates for Windows Recovery Environment, and more: These dynamic updates are not pushed through Windows Update and are only available for manual downloading from the Windows Update Catalog website. You can find it here: KB5047134. The support article for the same is available here on Microsoft's official website. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced the general availability of Windows Server 2025. It introduces a suite of new and enhanced security features to deal with modern threats against on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. To accompany the launch, Microsoft has released the Windows Server 2025 Security Advice book for free. The free book is designed for those responsible for Windows Server security in enterprise environments. It helps you get a better understanding of the protections now embedded in Windows Server. Best of all, the PDF document is just 19 pages long, so if you hate reading, it won't take long to get through it. The book is split up into eight chapters and covers system hardening and baselines, credential protection and application control, silicon-assisted security innovations, operational security and continuous monitoring, workload security for virtual machines and containers, enhanced network security with micro-segregation, and advanced compliance and threat detection. With increasing digitalization and heightened geopolitical tensions, the International Monetary Fund warns that cyberattacks has risen in recent years. For this reasons, administrators of Windows Server 2025 need to be on their toes now more than ever and by reading this book from Microsoft they can be better prepared to fend off attacks. The information packed into this book will benefit readers for the next decade with mainstream support ending in October 2029 and extended support lasting until October 2034, so it's definitely worth the time to read it if you're an administrator. To get the new book, just head over to this link to get the PDF. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft earlier today announced the general availability of Windows Server 2025, alongside System Center 2025. As such, the company has also updated the list of supported CPUs to include the chips that are ready for the newest Server version. These include Xeon Scalable Processors (SP) from 2nd Gen all the way up to the 5th Gen as well as Xeon 6 SP, and Xeon E and D SKUs. A couple of modern Pentium chips have been included as well. Over on the AMD side EPYC 7002, 7003, 8004, 9004, 9005 series, and more CPUs are included: Windows Edition Intel Processors AMD Processors Hygon Processors Windows Server 2025 Second through Fifth Gen Xeon SP processors (x2xx, x3xx, x4xx, x5xx); Xeon 6 SP Processors (67xxE); Xeon E 23xx and 24xx; Xeon D 17xx, 18xx, 21xx, 27xx, 28xx; Pentium G7400 and G7400T AMD EPYC 7xx2, AMD EPYC 7xx3, AMD EPYC 4xx4, AMD EPYC 8xx4, AMD EPYC 9xx4, and AMD EPYC 9xx5 N/A The company also notes that the list of supported CPUs given in the table above is only a prerequisite for system certification and does not determine support. From time to time, the list will be updated to include newer releases: Microsoft has been testing compatible hardware and software for certification since May this year, and later in September, it provided an important update on the testing. You can find the full list of CPUs at the links below: 2nd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors Intel® Xeon® 6 Intel® Xeon® D Processor 9 (17xx, 18xx, 21xx, 27xx, 28xx) Intel® Xeon® E Processor (23xx and 24xx) AMD EPYC 7xx2 AMD EPYC 7xx3 AMD EPYC 4xx4 AMD EPYC 8xx4 AMD EPYC 9xx4 AMD EPYC 9xx5 You can find the support document here on Microsoft's official site. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Microsoft has announced the general availability (G.A.) of Windows Server 2025 today starting with build 26100.1742. It is the latest version of Server OS and is also a long-term servicing channel (LTSC) release. As such, extended support for Windows Server 2025 will be for nearly 10 years till 10th October 2034. Mainstream support, meanwhile, will last till 9th October 2029. Microsoft writes: In terms of features and improvements, Microsoft claims enormous improvements to I/O throughput performance on Windows Server 2025. The company added more details about such storage improvements later in a separate post. Other improvements include those related to GPU virtualization in the form of GPU Partitioning or Multi-Instance GPU, VBS enclaves, and more. Similar to Windows 11 24H2, Server 2025 will also receive updates in the form of checkpoint cumulatives, a new way to deliver the latest updates. Alongside the release, Microsoft has confirmed three known issues. They include an English language-related bug during install, an issue with very high thread count CPUs (those with more than 256 threads/logical processors), and a 'boot device inaccessible' startup error in iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface) environments. In the case of the high core count issue, Microsoft says users can work around it simply by limiting the number of cores to 256 or below. You can learn more about them at the links below on Microsoft's official site: Some text might appear in English during the installation process Windows Server 2025 might not run as expected on devices with high core count Error 'boot device inaccessible' might appear in iSCSI environments You can download a free 180-day trial for Windows Server 2025 from the Evaluation Center here on Microsoft's official site. Along with Server 2025, System Center 2025 should also be available as previously confirmed by Microsoft. You can get it here from Microsoft's official site. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Windows Server Insiders can download a new preview build under number 26296. Today's release brings the ability to install Windows Admin Center from the desktop, access the new Feedback Hub app for Windows Server, and more. Here is the changelog for build 26296: Known bugs in this build include the following: You can find download links and activation keys in the announcement post on the official Tech Community forums. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts

In January, members of the Windows Server Insider Program started getting new builds that branded them as Windows Server 2025 for the first time. While Microsoft's own changelogs for the Insider builds have not been very descriptive, the company did reveal a lot more about its plans for Windows Server 2025 during its recent online Windows Server streaming event. Today, the company published a blog post that offers a summary of what was revealed during the event, concentrating on the new features and improvements that are planned for Windows Server 2025. One big feature that will likely make users happy is the ability to get security updates for the server OS without the need to reboot it. Microsoft says this will be handled "by modifying in memory code without restarting the process." This will be available for every version of Windows Server 2025, including the standard and data center editions. Standard updates for the OS will still require a reboot. Another big improvement for the new server OS will optimize the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVME) for SSDs. Microsoft showed a demo of Windows Server 2022 versus Windows Server 2025 and showed a big 70 percent increase in Input/output operations (IOPs) with the 2025 edition. Microsoft will also offer the OS in a new subscription-based business model, although it will still be offered with a perpetual one-time license as well. Some of the other new additions and improvements coming to Windows Server 2025 include: Of course, the best way to check out these features before Windows Server 2025 reaches RTM status is by joining the Windows Server Insider Program. Microsoft usually releases new builds every two weeks or so (in fact, we are due to get a new build sometime this week). As we mentioned, the published change logs may not include all of the new features that the company has added to the build. Microsoft will likely release the "final" version of Windows Server 2025 sometime later this year. Source

Microsoft has released the latest Windows Server build for members of the Windows Server Insider Program. The new build number is 26212 and is the same build number for the just-released Windows 11 Canary Channel build. Keep in mind that this and future Windows Server Insider builds now have the Windows Server 2025 branding. This new build includes support for a new account type, Delegated Managed Service Accounts (dMSA), along with additional Server Message Block (SMB) protocol changes. Here is the changelog: You can download the new Windows Server preview from Microsoft's site and check out the full blog post here. Source

Earlier today, Microsoft released a new Dev Channel build for Windows 11 Insiders in the form of build 26120.1252 under KB5038603. Alongside the bug fixes and several other miscellaneous improvements in the build, Microsoft has announced a new feature called "checkpoint cumulative updates." This is another Windows Update-related improvement Microsoft is making similar to one where IT and system admins can manage feature update installations instead of them being forced. In a separate blog post on Microsoft's Tech community website, Maliha Qureshi, a Principal Program Manager Lead at the company, has explained what it is and how it will work. Qureshi writes: Hence, essentially, the idea behind the feature is smaller Windows update downloads and that means updates will also apply faster. Consequently, enablement packages for major feature updates can also be installed quickly due to lowered sizes. Microsoft explains that Windows 11 24H2 will have a new way to deliver such feature updates so that binary differentials in subsequent cumulative updates are generated only for the latest checkpoint instead of the RTM (release to manufacturing) version, which has been the case so far since the original Windows 11 version 21H2 release. Additionally, thanks to such checkpoint files, Microsoft says that server-side load will also be subsequently reduced. You can find more details about checkpoint cumulative updates here on the official Microsoft Tech community blog post. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of June): 2,839 news posts

Microsoft will soon release a new version of its server-focused operating system. Windows Server 2025 is currently available for testing in the Insider program, where users and IT admins can try out the latest changes, features, and fixes. Like every other major OS update, Windows Server 2025 not only adds new stuff (there is even a pair of nice new wallpapers) but also removes outdated components and deprecates specific features. Most of them mirror what Microsoft has already removed or deprecated in the client version of Windows 11. Here is what Microsoft removed from Windows Server 2025: Feature Description IIS 6 Management Console (Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console) The console has been removed after being no longer developed in Windows Server 2019. You should also start migration from IIS 6.0 or earlier versions and move to the latest version of IIS, which is always available in the most recent release of Windows Server. WordPad WordPad has been removed from Windows Server 2025. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like doc and rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like txt. SMTP Server The SMTP Server features have been removed from Windows Server 2025. There's no replacement within the operating systems. Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine The Windows PowerShell 2.0 Engine has been removed. Applications and components should be migrated to PowerShell 5.0+. Here are the features Microsoft is no longer developing. They are still present in the operating system but do not expect new features or further developments. Microsoft will remove deprecated features from Windows Server at some point in the future (you can click each feature to learn more about its capabilities and deprecation): Feature Description Computer Browser The Computer Browser driver and service are deprecated. The browser (browser protocol and service) is a dated and insecure device location protocol. This protocol, service, and driver were first disabled by default in Windows 10 with the removal of the SMB1 service. NTLM All versions of NTLM, including LANMAN, NTLMv1, and NTLMv2, are no longer under active feature development and are deprecated. The use of NTLM will continue to work in the next release of Windows Server and the next annual release of Windows. Calls to NTLM should be replaced by calls to Negotiate, which will try to authenticate with Kerberos and only fall back to NTLM when necessary. Remote Mailslots Remote Mailslots are deprecated. The Remote Mailslot protocol, which was initially introduced in MS-DOS, is a dated and simple IPC method that is both unreliable and insecure. This protocol was first disabled by default in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build. TLS 1.0 TLS 1.1 Internet standards and regulatory bodies have deprecated TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 due to various security concerns. As of the 2024 release of Windows Server Insiders Preview, these versions are disabled by default. Windows Management Instrumentation Command Line (WMIC) WMIC is disabled by default for new Windows Server installations. It will be removed from Windows in a future release. PowerShell for WMI replaces the WMIC tool. Use PowerShell or programmatically query WMI to replace WMIC. VBScript VBScript is deprecated. In future Windows releases, VBScript will be available as a feature on-demand before its removal from the operating system. WebDAV Redirector service The WebDAV Redirector service is deprecated. The service isn't installed by default on the Windows Server. More info about Windows Server 2025 and its features is available in the official documentation. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of May): Nearly 2,400 news posts

Earlier today, Microsoft officially released the next major Windows 11 feature update, version 24H2, to the Release Preview Insider channel with build 26100.712. The release coincides with that of the evaluation ISOs for Windows Server 2025 preview as well as the release of Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024. With the release of the client Windows 11 2024 update as well as Server 2025 coming up in the second half of the year, Microsoft has now begun to ensure system requirements compatibility such that eligible hardware will be certified ready for the upcoming releases. This is part of the standard Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) certification program that Microsoft runs to ensure hardware compatibility where it requests participation from its partner hardware vendors, like AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, among others. In a new Tech Community blog post, Microsoft has detailed all about the prerequisites to guarantee OS compatibility: Back in March, Microsoft had released Windows Hardware Lab Kit (Windows HLK) Insider builds to set off the compatibility testing with the Windows RTM (Release to Manufacturing) version. We knew at that time that the final WHCP certification process should not be too far. While the system requirements are not expected to change, very old processors would not be able to bypass the Windows 11 24H2 eligibility block as they do not have PopCnt and SSE4.2 instructions. Source: Microsoft Source

Microsoft officially announced Windows Server 2025 towards the end of January this year after its initial unveiling in October 2023 during the Ignite 2023 event. Build 26040 became the first Windows Server 2025 build and in its announcement, Microsoft outlined its areas of focus which included: Later on, in April, the company shared more details about the features of Windows Server 2025. One such feature which it did not separately mention was about I/O performance improvement thanks to NVMe optimization and the tech giant claims a 70% boost. While Microsoft continues to assess Server 2025 via Insider testing, it looks like evaluation ISOs for the same will be unveiled soon as noted by X (formerly Twitter) user and Windows enthusiast Xeno. If you are not familiar with it, evaluation media ISOs or images are released by Microsoft for IT professionals, IT admins or system admins in case they want a trial of the operating system. Servers aside, client versions also get evaluation ISOs but the difference is that the evaluation period for Servers is 180 days while that for Clients is 90 days. However, that is not confirmed at the moment for Windows Server 2025 as the media is yet to be available on the official Evaluation Center website as 2022 remains the latest version there. If you are wondering how you can obtain Server build 26100.560, you can do so by installing the KB5037783 update (via BetaWiki). Microsoft quietly released the update this week for both Client and Server and as such, no changelog exists. Source You're welcome.

Microsoft has released the latest Windows Server build for members of the Windows Server Insider Program. The new build number is 26244, and it is the same build number for the just-released Windows 11 Canary Channel build. Keep in mind that this and future Windows Server Insider builds now have the Windows Server 2025 branding. This appears to be another minor update, as the change log is nearly identical to the one that was posted for the last preview build. The only difference is that this change log removes a previously listed known issue that has now been resolved. Here is the full change log: You can download the new Windows Server preview from Microsoft's site and check out the full blog post here. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of May): Nearly 2,400 news posts

Microsoft has released the latest Windows Server build for members of the Windows Server Insider Program. The new build number is 26236 and it is the same build number for the just-released Windows 11 Canary Channel build. Keep in mind that this and future Windows Server Insider builds now have the Windows Server 2025 branding. This appears to be another minor update as the change log is nearly identical to the one that was posted for the last preview build. The one change is a previously known bug that stated some users may encounter boot issues with creating secure-boot Gen 2 VMs has now been listed as resolved. Here is the full change log: You can download the new Windows Server preview from Microsoft's site and check out the full blog post here. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of May): Nearly 2,400 news posts

Microsoft has released the latest Windows Server build for members of the Windows Server Insider Program. The new build number is 26280. Keep in mind that this and future Windows Server Insider builds now have the Windows Server 2025 branding. The big change in this build is a new expiration date of Sept. 15, 2025. Previously, the Windows Server Insider builds had a Sept. 15, 2024 expiration date. That means everyone who has downloaded and used any older versions of the Windows Server Insider needs to download and install the new 26280 build in order to keep using it after Sept. 15, 2024. Here is the changelog; You can download the new Windows Server preview from Microsoft's site and check out the full blog post here. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts