Forum Discussion
Hyper-V Server 2022
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
ChrisAtMafElden_ChristensenI, too, am curious about this. I purchased Windows Server 2022 without SA or CALs because I am the sole user. I needed some integration that my Linux servers do not fully provide/support.
My understanding is that I cannot simply install the Hyper-V feature without GUI and use it as a type 1 hypervisor, like Hyper-V server, and run my Windows Server 2022 as a VM. I would need to purchase another Windows Server 2022 license to do this, correct? I will look into Azure Local. My biggest frustration is cloud dependency. My home is my office and my NOC, and the only fail over internet access I could get would be 5G/LTE. Switching to Spectrum Business would be the exact same SLA and equipment path to the backbone. I have my rack because I prefer on-prem with policy routing for split tunnel wire guard/OSPF site-to-site for some special needs.
So as to not derail the thread, is there a way to discuss more separately, either via thread or .... Teams? I've pulled away from MS server/azure since around earlier 2019 and I am curious what sort of integration with Azure hybrid might work for me. Utilizing my free tier Azure is fine, but one reason for on-prem is that azure/AWS/gcp/IBM/Oracle data buckets with hybrid failurover/HA compute machines would likely result in a net loss. I still need to look at HCI
Thanks for your dedication to this thread, even if none of us are happy with the elimination of Hyper-V server.
MicrosoftGuest OS licenses depends on the edition you choose. If you have Standard, then it includes 2 guest OS licenses. If Datacenter, then it includes unlimited guest OS licenses.
So yes, you can install the Hyper-V role on your Windows Server. Then create a VM and install another instance of Windows Server in the VM. You can also run all the Linux VMs you want.
Thanks!
Elden
Hi Elden,
I think you should clarify your message as people are linking here thinking if they license a Hyper-V server with Standard Edition you can run unlimited Linux VMs.
The license for 2 VMs is per OSE
Microsoft define an OSE as:
Operating system environment (OSE) means all or part of an operating system instance, or all
or part of a virtual (or otherwise emulated) operating system instance which enables separate
machine identity
By that definition when licensing Windows Server for Hyper-V you neede to license it for each Windows Server VM and any other OS such as Linux.
Love to hear your take - thanks,Alex
