Forum Discussion
Windows Server on ARM64 (Insider Previews)
When will there be a preview build of Windows Server on ARM? There is demand for it from developers, and devops personal as well. It is known that it already partial exists due to the article on Azur...
Steskalj Thanks for sharing your usecase.
Whereas, I am very aware that Microsoft is primarily focused on SaaS solutions such as it's cloud platform Azure, which does have a certain purpose. I thought it prudent to provide logic as to why it can be useful to pursue the ARM64 based platform for Microsoft Server.
1. We are all too aware of the recent third-party software update that crippled primarily Azure based systems.
Therefore, local redundancy in Servers (and workstations) still makes sense.
2. Power requirements for ARM64 based systems are considerably much lower than other platforms.
3. It potentially opens a doorway for Microsoft to offer it's products on a platform you have limited access to. Apple's "Silicon" based processors (if Microsoft were a little more willing to work with Apple (who generally stays out of the Server market) to come up with a "Silicon based" bootable Server that is independent of MacOS. The only potential conditions I would foresee Apple insisting on is a disclaimer of liability for running non-Apple operating systems on Apple Computers, and a guarantee that Microsoft will not purposely allow its Client Operating Systems to use that bootstrap on "Silicon based" systems. Thereby restricting it to Microsoft Server only.
4. Imagine a Microsoft Surface Windows Server. USB C with Thunderbolt 4 is now fast enough to facilitate connecting enough external storage for this innovative novel concept to work.
1. We are all too aware of the recent third-party software update that crippled primarily Azure based systems.
Therefore, local redundancy in Servers (and workstations) still makes sense.
2. Power requirements for ARM64 based systems are considerably much lower than other platforms.
3. It potentially opens a doorway for Microsoft to offer it's products on a platform you have limited access to. Apple's "Silicon" based processors (if Microsoft were a little more willing to work with Apple (who generally stays out of the Server market) to come up with a "Silicon based" bootable Server that is independent of MacOS. The only potential conditions I would foresee Apple insisting on is a disclaimer of liability for running non-Apple operating systems on Apple Computers, and a guarantee that Microsoft will not purposely allow its Client Operating Systems to use that bootstrap on "Silicon based" systems. Thereby restricting it to Microsoft Server only.
4. Imagine a Microsoft Surface Windows Server. USB C with Thunderbolt 4 is now fast enough to facilitate connecting enough external storage for this innovative novel concept to work.
Fully with you on that. Microsoft should expand their field of view and definitely look into an ARM as an opportunity.
Nevertheless it's just a matter of time before ARM compute goes mainstream and gets adopted by the business. So Microsoft should definitely stay ahead of the game and offer Windows Server with all of it's features to their arm customers- I just wanted to say that I would also like to be able to officially evaluate Windows Server 2025 (24H2) which is available on ARM but only from 3rd party locations whereas Windows client 24H2 on ARM is available.
They could keep the preview label if it helped avoid people expecting to roll out a AD domain on ARM and expect full support but enable developers to provide feedback whilst using it.
Any ARM-related announcements seem to be being kept fairly quiet when it should really be big news.
