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Hyper-V Server 2022
Anyone know whether there will be a Hyper-V Server 2022? i.e. the free version which is just for running VMs and has no GUI? I've seen mentions on forums that this SKU is being dropped, but not ...
Free 'Microsoft Hyper-V Server' product update
Since its introduction over a decade ago in Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V technology has been, and continues to be, the foundation of Microsoft’s hypervisor platform. Hyper-V is a strategic technology for Microsoft. Microsoft continues to invest heavily in Hyper-V for a variety of scenarios such as virtualization, security, containers, gaming, and more. Hyper-V is used in Azure, Azure Local, Windows Server, Windows Client, and Xbox among others.
Starting with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019, the free ‘Microsoft Hyper-V Server’ product has been deprecated and is the final version of that product. Hyper-V Server 2019 is a free product available for download from the Microsoft Evaluation Center: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-hyper-v-server-2019
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 will continue to be supported under its lifecycle policy until January 2029, see this link for additional information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/hyperv-server-2019.
While Microsoft has made a business decision to no longer offer the free 'Microsoft Hyper-V Server' product, this has no impact to the many other products which include the Hyper-V feature and capabilities. This change has no impact to any customers who use Windows Server or Azure Local.
For customers looking to do test or evaluation of the Hyper-V feature, Azure Local includes a 60-day free trial and can be downloaded here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/ . Windows Server offers a free 180-day evaluation which can be downloaded from the Evaluation Center here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter
Microsoft remains committed to meeting customers where they are and delivering innovation for on-premises virtualization and bringing unique hybrid capabilities like no other can combined with the power of Azure Arc. We are announcing that Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 was the last version of the free download product and that customers begin transitioning to one of the several other products which include Hyper-V or consider Azure.
Thank you,
Elden Christensen
Principal Group PM Manager
Windows Server Development Team
Afraid I can't remember which forum it was now - but it wasn't an official source, hence asking on here.
Elden_Christensen
Microsoft
MicrosoftI just returned from vacation to find that this thread had unfortunately taken a very unproductive turn... I've cleaned up the posts and ask that everyone keep it professional. Yes David, this is a perfectly valid place and is monitored by the development team. Sorry for the delayed response.
Azure Stack HCI is Microsoft’s premier hypervisor offering for running virtual machines on-premises. For testing and evaluation purposes Azure Stack HCI includes a 60-day free trial and can be downloaded here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/azure-stack/hci/hci-download/
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 will continue to be supported under its lifecycle policy until January 2029, see this link for additional information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/hyperv-server-2019
Azure Stack HCI is Microsoft’s premier hypervisor offering for running virtual machines on-premises. For testing and evaluation purposes Azure Stack HCI includes a 60-day free trial and can be downloaded here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/azure-stack/hci/hci-download/
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 will continue to be supported under its lifecycle policy until January 2029, see this link for additional information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/hyperv-server-2019
Elden_Christensen I just have to say that as a manager for corporate infrastructure that has largely depended on Microsoft's virtualization platform for our numerous locations, this decision has me VERY concerned.
We have used the Hyper-V Server 2016 and 2019 platforms for server testing and development before deploying to our paid Standard and Datacenter hosts, and we were exploring the use of Hyper-V Server 2019 to facilitate a potential VDI solution towards CMMC compliance, but given this latest bad decision on the part of Microsoft, we will likely be moving back to a VMWare-based solution.
As someone who has spent better than a decade as a Hyper-V evangelist, moving multiple companies and clients off competing hypervisors, I actually feel personally betrayed by Microsoft as a result of this decision.
This was short-sighted and highly disrespectful to admins and developers that made the case for using Microsoft's hypervisor over competitors, and it's going to drive smaller companies and new developers and admins to non-Microsoft products.
For a lot of new people in the field (and small business/startup), Hyper-V Server was the "toe in the water" towards a larger and more expensive Windows Server virtualized infrastructure, and you are slamming that door in the faces of the next generation of admins and businesses.
I fear that Microsoft will reverse this decision eventually, but not until the damage is done and you have driven off that entry-userbase into competing products.
- Can we get, at least, one last patch for Hyper-V Server 2019 that allow AMD nested virtualization? I don't want to use my desktop Windows 11 hyper-v for Docker containers.
- Azure Stack HCI is NOT FREE as hyper-v server... stop talk about it.
We want our free hypervisor, it's the reason of this thread...
Find and understand why Microsoft wants we migrated to ESX... because ESX keep free... Azure Stack HCI is absolutely not a replacement for Hyper-V Server. For an MSP, what you have done here, is break the disconnect the hardware cycle from the licensing cycle. Many (if not every) one of the servers we got upgraded in the 2008 EOL was done in multiple stages, by upgrading the hardware, migrating the VM's and performing the OS migrations at a later date. We did dozens of clients over 18 months like this. This was only possible due to the HV license being independent of the guest license. These are SMB clients, their not putting out for HCI hardware. End Of Story.
The Server 2012 EOL is putting us in the same position, but this time if we're going to stick to Microsoft Hypervisors, we have to sell them on the 2022 licensing and CAL's along with the hardware. You're doubling to tripling the up front investment we have to sell to these SMB's.
If MS does not have a hyper-v server available for the next migration, it will not be a Microsoft Hypervisor that goes on the hardware.
Highly disappointing, and frankly shortsighted decision on Microsofts part.
(edit: spelling)
- As a mod of reddit.com/r/HyperV, I am incredibly disappointed in this decision.
Hyper-V platform has always been a free and reliable platform, allowing home-grown solutions and business platforms to operate on a hypervisor infrastructure with a minimal feature set. From a single laptop for lab or educational use to a fleet of pizza box servers in a datacenter, a free hypervisor should cost nothing. If you use no cloud infrastructure, no management automation, no other infrastructure, the base hypervisor should be free.
As an MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure, I am incredibly disappointed in this decision.
I've invested lots of time and effort in learning to build secure scalable solutions for on premise infrastructure. This flies in the face of that time and investment and leaves me feeling like I've wasted that time by trusting Microsoft's platform and vision.
As an architect who builds on premise platforms, I am incredibly disappointed in this decision.
One of the key value propositions for free hyper-v server was not requriing extra licensing for extra management servers, etc.... If you have a windows server licensed cluster of hypervisors with windows server datacenter, not requiring additional licensing to run extra physical servers with linux or other guest VMs in a non clustered environment (such as Palo Alto firewalls, Linux VDI, VPN virtual machines, logging machines, and other platforms that utilize application layer redundancy not requiring highly available "VMs", Hyper-v server was a great solution.
As a decision maker who decides bills of materials and application architecture, I am incredibly disappointed in this decision.
I guess we will now be moving everything to VMWare. What a waste.- You won't be the only one, friend
- I have just started using TrueNAS SCALE which recently hit release and it's the best replacement I have found yet. The point being, there is a lot of other competition out there, Microsoft should have kept this up, because now they will lose market share.
- Thanks - so just to confirm, are you saying that there will not be a Hyper-V Server 2022? (and, incidentlaly, does the same apply to Windows Server Essentials?).
Azure Stack HCI is unfortunately not suitable for what I need - it's for a couple of test servers which are solely used for hosting short-lived virtual machines, which are set up for testing things, then deleted within a few days or a week or two at most. It's not viable to pay the Azure Stack HCI licensing costs for this.- Elden_Christensen
Yes, there is a Windows Server 2022 Essentials edition. Some minor changes to pricing and channels, announcements coming very soon.
Our strategic direction for a hypervisor platform is with Azure Stack HCI, it is a purpose built solution hybrid infrastructure for running virtual machines. We recently extended the AzS HCI free trial period from 30 to 60 days, to provide a platform for test / eval.
Thanks!
EldenElden_Christensen why not just answer the question
