Build 9926 is likely unstable, but the pared-down Nano Server may be Windows Server's future After dribbling out screenshots of a mainstream internal build of Windows Server 10, the Russian leakers know as WZor finally posted the whole enchilada Sunday afternoon. WZor also posted a deck of PowerPoint slides, apparently intended for Microsoft Partners, that fleshes out a new, headless version of Windows Server called Nano Server, the “nucleus of next-gen cloud infrastructure” with extensive born-in-the-cloud application support. If you really want to try a beta version of the Windows Server 10 Technical Preview that Microsoft apparently provided to Partners — but didn’t want to push to the unwashed masses — you can probably find the bits by searching on one of the following: MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.SERVER.10.TECHNICAL.PREVIEW.2.BUILD.9926.OEM_RETAIL.ENGLISH.DVD-WZT 9926.0.150119-1648.FBL_AWESOME1501_SERVER_OEMRET_X64FRE_EN-US MD5: FBFFA69F7BD6721B7D5CE7A36ECF85B3 SHA1: F7B9C7AD831442C407CB85CFB955BED333368CEA The size is 4,348,241,920 bytes. Early reports are that it’s unstable. That would certainly explain why Microsoft hasn’t released the bits. Only you can decide if it’s worth the effort to play with an old and unstable build from Jan. 19. (Build 9926 is the same build that’s on the current Windows 10 Technical Preview 2.) Microsoft hasn’t released a new build of Windows Server 10 since build 9841 last October. The Nano Server slides, though, point to a new (if not totally unexpected), severely pared-down version of Windows Server 10. Brought to light by Brad Sams at Neowin, you can find the deck on WZor’s site on LiveJournal, which also sports a spiffy new “WZ Inc” logo. The presentation, purportedly from Refaat Issa, a senior program manager on Microsoft’s PowerShell team, shows the general direction Microsoft will take to turn Windows Server into a zero-footprint, 100 percent remotely managed OS that runs equally well on raw hardware or in a VM, containerized, with far fewer reboots required, a smaller attack surface, and much lower hardware consumption. According to the slides it will support Hyper-V, clustering, CoreCLR, ASP.Net vNext, PaaS v2, and containers, as well as “full driver support” and antimalware. Yes, it’ll be compatible with all existing Windows Server apps. The deck includes a slide that analyzes 2014 security bulletins; it shows a full Windows Server would need to be rebooted 11 times over the year, while a Server Core installation would require six reboots and a Nano Server would only take three reboots. When will Nano Server arrive? Your guess is as good as mine. The penultimate slide, written in traditional PowerPoint obfuscatory style, gives its status: Will be part of the next release of Windows Server Limited TAP (deployment to Technology Adapter Program participants) in early 2015 Will not be part of next Windows Server preview Will be in next release after that Neowin translates that mind-numbing cascade as meaning Nano Server “will be part of the release following the next release, so you should be able to get your hands on Nano Server in the next several months.” We’ll see. Related content opinion On a personal note... Woody Leonhard looks back a bit, looks ahead to retirement — and shares good news about who's picking up the Windows patching torch. By Woody Leonhard Nov 09, 2020 3 mins Small and Medium Business Computers Windows news analysis Get Microsoft's October patches installed — and seriously consider Win10 2004 Odd ancillary patches have their problems, but the mainstream October patches look pretty reliable. The big question: Is Win10 version 2004 up to your stability standards. I’m skeptical -- especially because it has few worthwhile improvements. By Woody Leonhard Oct 30, 2020 6 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Computers news analysis Microsoft Patch Alert: October 2020 The big news with this month’s patches – aside from the usual smorgasbord of strange errors – has more to do with the patches that are outside the regular cumulative update stream. Remarkably, we didn’t get any security fixes By Woody Leonhard Oct 22, 2020 189 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Office Microsoft news analysis With Patch Tuesday here, be sure Windows Update is paused With all the flotsam floating around, it’s easy to lose sight of Second Tuesdays. October’s arrives tomorrow and, with it, another round of Windows and Office patches. Take a minute to make sure you aren’t in the front lines, as eve By Woody Leonhard Oct 12, 2020 5 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe