Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Standard

Windows Server 2022 Standard: server operating system for physical and lightly virtualised environments

Windows Server 2022 Standard is the edition of Windows Server 2022 for physical servers and environments with few virtual machines. It is licensed per processor core and, with all cores fully licensed, allows operation in two virtual operating system environments. The edition is suitable for businesses that run a server for Active Directory, file shares or business applications.

Licensing by core and virtualisation rights

Under Microsoft's licensing rules, all physical cores of the server must be licensed, but at least 8 cores per processor and 16 cores per server. This also applies to servers with only one processor. A server with two processors of 8 cores each therefore requires 16 core licences, and a server with 24 cores accordingly 24. In addition, every user or device that accesses the server requires a Windows Server CAL. For Remote Desktop Services, an RDS CAL per user or device is also required.

If all cores are licensed, Windows Server 2022 Standard may run in two virtual machines, plus one Hyper-V host. This allows, for example, a domain controller and an application server to run as separate virtual machines on one piece of hardware. For every two additional virtual machines, all cores must be licensed again. Windows Server containers are unlimited, Hyper-V isolated containers are possible up to two. In this edition, Storage Replica is limited to one partnership and one resource group with a single volume of up to 2 TB.

Security and connections

Windows Server 2022 enables TLS 1.3 by default for HTTPS, provided that applications and services support the protocol. The DNS client supports DNS over HTTPS and thus encrypts name queries. AES-256-GCM and AES-256-CCM are available for the SMB encryption of file shares, and SMB compression allows files to be compressed during transfer over the network, for example when copying large files.

On certified hardware, Windows Server 2022 supports the features of a Secured-core server: virtualisation-based security, hypervisor-protected code integrity, which prevents unsigned kernel-mode drivers from loading, and Kernel Data Protection. Windows Admin Center shows the status of these features and can enable them where possible.

Management, Hyper-V and containers

With Azure Arc, on-premises servers running Windows Server 2022 can be managed as resources in Azure. Hyper-V now also supports nested virtualisation on AMD processors. The base layer of the Server Core container image takes up 33 percent less disk space than with Windows Server 2019, and with HostProcess containers and gMSA for containers without the host joining a domain, Windows Server 2022 extends the options for Kubernetes environments. Storage Migration Service now also migrates data from Linux servers with Samba and from NetApp CIFS servers.

Difference from Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

Windows Server 2022 Standard covers servers with up to two virtual machines per licensing. With all cores fully licensed, Datacenter allows any number of virtual machines and Hyper-V containers and additionally includes Storage Spaces Direct, the Network Controller for software-defined networking, Hyper-V support for the Host Guardian Service and Storage Replica without limits. For hosts with many virtual machines or clusters with shared storage, choose Windows Server 2022 Datacenter.

Buy Windows Server 2022 Standard: licence and scope of delivery

On the product page, you select the number of core licences: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 or 32 cores. What counts is the number of physical cores in your server, at least 16 per server. Windows Server CALs and RDS CALs are not part of this offer. The scope of delivery includes:

• the product key for Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Standard
• the download link for the server software (all downloads are also available under Software Download)
• instructions for installation and activation (see also Guides and FAQ)
• the invoice by email

Once your payment has been received, your product key is displayed directly on the order confirmation page and also sent to you by email. After that, you can retrieve it again at any time: with a customer account under My Product Codes, without a customer account via the Guest Portal.

If you have any questions about installation or activation, our Support team is available around the clock by email. You will find offers for businesses, schools and public authorities in the B2B Area. You will find further server products in the category Windows Server and under Operating Systems.

System requirements

Minimum requirements according to Microsoft. They apply to the Server Core and Desktop Experience installation options.