Windows Server 2019 was announced on March 20, 2018, and the first
Windows Insider preview version was released on the same day.[5] It was released for general availability on October 2 of the same year.[1]
On October 6, 2018, distribution of Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763[6]) was paused while Microsoft investigated an issue with user data being deleted during an in-place upgrade.[7] It affected systems where a user profile folder (e.g. Documents, Music or Pictures) had been moved to another location, but data was left in the original location.[8] As Windows Server 2019 is based on the Windows version 1809 codebase, it too was removed from distribution at the time,[9] but was re-released on November 13, 2018.[10] The
software product life cycle for Server 2019 was reset in accordance with the new release date.[9]
Editions
Windows Server 2019 consists of the following editions:[11]
Windows Server 2019 Essentials - intended for companies up to and including 25 employees, memory-limited.
Windows Server 2019 Standard - intended for companies with more than 25 employees or more than 1 server to separate server roles.
Windows Server 2019 Datacenter - is mainly used for placing multiple virtual machines on a physical host.
Features
Windows Server 2019 has the following new features:[12][13][14]
Microsoft Edge did not support Server 2019 at release. Microsoft considers
Internet Explorer 11 a "compatibility layer," not a browser. Edge added support in January 2020, but Server 2019 does not install it by default. Microsoft encourages server and enterprise users to install Edge.[18]