Windows Server 2022 LTSC released

Martin Brinkmann
Aug 20, 2021
Windows
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Microsoft released a new version of Windows Server, Windows Server 2022 LTSC, this week. The new Server release does not really need the LTSC descriptor anymore, as Microsoft announced earlier this year that all future Windows Server releases would be long-term servicing channel releases.

Windows Server 2022 LTSC will be supported for ten years. Five of those years with mainstream support, and the remaining five years with extended support. The main difference between the support phases is that extended support is limited to security and bug fix updates. Mainstream support may introduce new functionality to the Server version as well.

windows server 2022 ltsc

Mainstream support ends on October 13, 2026, extended support on October 14, 2031.

The "What's new in Windows Server 2022" support page lists major changes in the new Server version.

Here is a short overview:

  • Security improvements: secured-core server, simplified security, hardware root-of-trust, firmware protection, virtualization-based security (VBS)
  • HTTPS and TLS 1.3 enabled by default.
  • Secure DNS support with DNS-over-HTTPS.
  • Server Message Block AES-256 encryption.
  • Server Message Block East-West SMB encryption.
  • SMB over QUIC.
  • Azure Arc enabled.
  • Azure Automanage - Hotpatch.
  • Platform improvements, e.g. application compatibility and Windows Container experience with Kubernetes.
  • Nested virtualization for AMD processors.
  • New Microsoft Edge web browser.
  • Storage Migration Service.
  • Adjustable storage repair speed.
  • Storage bus cache with Storage Spaces on standalone servers.
  • SMB compression.

Windows Server 2022 is available in three editions: Windows Server 2022 Standard, Windows Server 2022 Datacenter and Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition.

There are quite a few differences feature-wise between the versions. Hotpatching is only supported by the Azure Edition, Storage Spaces Direct only by the Datacenter editions, and the standard edition is limited when it comes to Storage replica.

Here is a feature comparison table:

Features available generally Windows Server 2022 Standard Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition
Azure Extended Network No No Yes
Best Practices Analyzer Yes Yes Yes
Direct Access Yes Yes Yes
Dynamic Memory (in virtualization) Yes Yes Yes
Hot Add/Replace RAM Yes Yes Yes
Hotpatching No No Yes
Microsoft Management Console Yes Yes Yes
Minimal Server Interface Yes Yes Yes
Network Load Balancing Yes Yes Yes
Windows PowerShell Yes Yes Yes
Server Core installation option Yes Yes Yes
Server Manager Yes Yes Yes
SMB Direct and SMB over RDMA Yes Yes Yes (not supported in Azure)
SMB over QUIC No No Yes
Software-defined Networking No Yes Yes
Storage Migration Service Yes Yes Yes
Storage Replica Yes, (1 partnership and 1 resource group with a single 2TB volume) Yes, unlimited Yes, unlimited
Storage Spaces Yes Yes Yes
Storage Spaces Direct No Yes Yes
Volume Activation Services Yes Yes Yes
VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) integration Yes Yes Yes
Windows Server Update Services Yes Yes Yes
Windows System Resource Manager Yes Yes Yes
Server license logging Yes Yes Yes
Inherited activation As guest if hosted on Datacenter Can be a host or a guest Can be a host or a guest
Work Folders Yes Yes Yes

As far as limitations and locks are concerned, these are identical feature-wise for the most part. The only difference between standard and datacenter editions is that the standard edition is limited to 2 virtual machines plus one Hyper-V host per license, while the datacenter edition is not limited when it comes to the number of virtual machines.

Check out the full feature comparison page on Microsoft's Docs website for additional information.

This Microsoft Docs webpage lists the features that are no longer in development or removed:

Removed:

Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) Server service The iSNS Server service has now been removed from Windows Server 2022 after it was considered for removal in Windows Server, version 1709. You can still connect to iSNS servers or add iSCSI targets individually.

No longer in development:

Feature Explanation
Guarded Fabric and Shielded Virtual Machines (VMs) Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI are aligning with Azure to take advantage of continuing enhancements to Azure Confidential Computing and Azure Security Center. Having this alignment translates to more cloud security offerings being extended to customer data centers (on-premises).

Microsoft will continue to provide support for these features, but there will be no further development. On client versions of Windows the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT): Shielded VM Tools feature will be removed.

Launching SConfig from a command prompt (CMD) window by running sconfig.cmd Starting with Windows Server 2022, SConfig is launched by default when you sign in to a server running Server Core installation option. Moreover, PowerShell is now the default shell on Server Core. If you exit SConfig, you get to a regular interactive PowerShell window. Similarly, you can opt out from SConfig autolaunch. In this case, you will get a PowerShell window at sign-in. In either scenario, you can launch SConfig from PowerShell by simply running SConfig. If needed, you can launch the legacy command prompt (CMD) from PowerShell as well. But to simplify different transition options, we're going to remove sconfig.cmd from the next version of the operating system. If you need to start SConfig from a CMD window, you will have to launch PowerShell first.

Our colleagues over at Deskmodder have links to the official ISO images of Windows Server 2022 LTSC (German and English, 64-bit).

Now You: What is your take on this new Windows Server release?

Summary
Windows Server 2022 LTSC released
Article Name
Windows Server 2022 LTSC released
Description
Microsoft released a new version of Windows Server, Windows Server 2022 LTSC, this week. Find out what is new and changed, and how the different editions compare.
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

  14. Raphael Benzo said on September 24, 2023 at 9:52 pm
    Reply

    I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
    Tank you for your help

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