Today, Microsoft announced the general availability of Windows Server IoT 2025. This new release includes several improvements, including advanced multilayer security, hybrid cloud agility, AI, performance enhancements, and more.
Microsoft claims that Windows Server IoT 2025 will be able to handle the most demanding workloads, including AI and machine learning. It now has built-in support for GPU partitioning and the ability to process large datasets across distributed environments. With Live Migration and High Availability, it also offers a high-performance platform for both traditional applications and advanced AI workloads.
↫ Pradeep Viswanathan at Neowin
Windows Server IoT 2025 brings the same benefits, new features, and improvements as the just-released regular Windows Server 2025. I must admit I’m a little unclear as to what Windows Server IoT has to offer over the regular edition, and reading the various Microsoft marketing materials and documents don’t really make it any clearer for me either, since I’m not particularly well-versed in all that enterprise networking lingo.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I have little interest in anything to do with “windows” and “IOT” together. There’s no reason to bake windows dependencies into an IOT platform when there are viable FOSS alternatives to choose from. There’s a lot of reasons businesses depend on windows and for developers to target it…but for IOT it’s an easy “no thanks”.
its more aimed at being the server the IOT devices send data back to and process on-prem. Think traffic lights sending traffic violations to a central system. Or tracking of mining equipment on a large scale.
At the product level, Server and Server IOT are the same, but IOT is cheaper because its restricted to only this use case.
Windows embedded or Windows IoT are probably what you are thinking of for the device itself.
The honest reason to choose windows for IoT over linux? It just works. So many functions are pre-configured services you only need to repoint. And FOSS is often a bit of a false economy in an IOT device you want supportable for extended periods, so you’ll pay for support and compliance from Redhat/Ubuntu or someone else..
With the LInux kernel recently reducing its LTS lifespan, this pushes more people to managed support contracts over self-maintained too.
Adurbe,
Yes I was thinking of the devices, but even for hosting there’s usually not a compelling reason to have windows dependencies. Consumers who see a benefit running windows on the front end don’t usually care about windows on the back end.
The thing about it is that the vast majority of developers have been choosing linux over windows. Whether it’s IOT/hosting/HPC/etc. For all it’s real or perceived shortcomings on the desktop, linux has become the platform of choice for back end work where it just works and support for it is nearly ubiquitous. I realize there are windows shops that use windows for absolutely everything, but otherwise it still seems like the demand for FOSS is very strong among developers.
That’s right, if you need/want enterprise grade support, it’s available for linux. You can also get support from local contractors, there’s a lot of options. Windows in the data center is much rarer. This is the reason that microsoft had to change it’s whole anti-linux stance years ago. They needed to stop the bleeding and make sure it’s cloud offerings remained relevant. I’m not going to tell people what’s best for them, but I still think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of cloud customers don’t care one iota about windows in the data center. And that’s my feeling towards windows IOT..
When you say, “cloud customers don’t care one iota about windows in the data center”, I agree with you. Mostly because they do not care about “the data center”. There is no universal rule of course but increasingly Linux rules the cloud with Windows remaining dominant where “on premises” holds on. Of course, as cloud architecture returns to on site, private cloud and “edge” are creating “on premises” beachheads that Windows is unlikely to take back.
And if you are running Linux in the cloud, it is either the base for simple containers ( with some repository or hub largely ensuring things are in working order ) or it is part of the infrastructure included with your subscription from whoever is providing your “cloud” ( eg. Amazon, Microsoft, or Google ). There is no need for operating system support like there is when you are slapping an operating system on hardware that is dedicated to you.
While I am no cloud zealot, I cannot think of many good reasons to run an IoT back-end on premises instead of in the cloud. Unless you are talking video, the amount of data would have to be just enormous for the economics to drive an on site solution and, if that is the case, the elastic nature of the cloud is likely a real benefit. About the only reason I can think of is data sovereignty but how often is that truly a problem for “IoT”? There are not many essential secrets in temperature data or GPS positions for vehicles on public roads.
There is a reason that Microsoft has embraced Linux so enthusiastically on Azure. First, it is the cash cow future of the company. Second, their biggest ( and bigger ) competition is all-in on Linux already.
Windows Server in general is being boxed in to the shrinking bubble that is on premises workflows that you do not want to deploy as pods of service containers ( aka Linux ). Your IoT back-end is not a service oriented architecture using containers? Really? I mean, it does not have to be 10,000 microservices running Kubernetes per se but are people running real CI/CD pipelines without Linux these days? Or is is Windows all just departmental servers implementing old-school “behind the perimeter” infrastructure?
If you really want your servers to be on premise, Windows seems like a reasonable option. If that is the case, you probably already have Microsoft support staff and expertise. You likely have other Microsoft infrastructure to manage. As an escalation path, Microsoft has a lot of depth and scale no matter where you are. Compared to “enterprise” Linux support, Microsoft may even be the cheaper option once you factor everything in.
That said, I am not sure who cares about the LTS lifespan at kernel.org really. There are many credible Linux distros offering a level and duration of support that meets or exceeds what Microsoft offers. It is not just Red Hat and SLES. Ubuntu as you mentioned offers 10 years of support.
As soon as you go to the cloud though, it is not really just FOSS anymore. On the OS support and subscription front, your cloud provider handles that. It is part of the “infrastructure” that you are out-sourcing to them. They also offer many services on top of the pure FOSS offerings. Both Amazon and Azure offer extensive IoT ecosystems including not just services but also a lot of their own tech ( including RTOS offerings other than Linux ). And, like a lot of the FOSS world, the stuff you find in the Open Source IoT space is often the product of a commercial company.
Adurbe,
This runs close to home.
I actually kinda interned at Istanbul traffic signalization center back in the day (long ago). (Think one of the largest cities on Earth, moving to digitalization for traffic lights).
And the SCADA(?) systems were connected using TCP/IP to Windows NT 3.51 systems for collecting and processing data.
I’m almost sure…. they are still using the same systems, but probably upgraded beyond NT 3.51.
Whatever IoT partners Microsoft had run away when Microsft killed Windows Mobile/Embedded Handheld 6.5 and Windows CE/Embedded Compact without any viable upgrade path. Do you have a Windows Mobile or Windows CE app you need to run? You are pretty much out of luck other than rewriting the thing from scratch. Microsoft hoped the rewrite would be to Windows NT-based IoT platforms, but all their partners moved to AOSP (no need for Play Services on IoT), but Microsoft has to keep pretending they compete in the IoT space so investors won’t notice they aren’t really competing in the IoT space.
That said, Windows Embedded is still very much a thing because lots of companies need to run regular Windows NT apps on a slim version of Windows, but I wouldn’t call that “IoT”, it’s just a PC running a slim version of Windows.
The mishandling of windows phone/ce is well documented.
But IoT is growing in a number of sectors for Windows IoT. Look at cashpoints as an example. Kiosk systems are another Very competitive area, but windows has had a very strong foothold in those for decades and is consolidating as customers migrate off of OS2 and similar.
@Adurbe
Yes I suspect it’s these legacy retail space that the IoT moniker is targeting, it’s amazing how many POS systems remain on redundant platforms.
It will be interesting to see if MS delivers anything more than the label. I have many colleagues heavily invested in IoT or IIoT, and quite a few find the server/service side very frustrating, they lose control of the data because they remain dependant on 3rd parties, and where the data exists for mining is where the dollars are found.
Would you trust the AI dwelling on your service providers cloud not to pre-emptively rip-off your IP? I have two colleagues in this very fight at the moment, where a company connected to the cloud services provider seems to have magically guessed where the project is heading and filed patents. Allegedly without even a glance at the numbers!
I recall that people used to say LTSC IOT version of Windows 10 is the best version to install as it has zero ads and MS-Store code. Not sure if this is true and if it can apply on this server editon as well.
yousif,
I’m not familiar with it, but if that’s true it could be a compelling reason to choose the IOT version over the normal consumer versions.
Alfman,
There seems to be so many different ways to achieve a “clean” Windows… (this, “en-NOT-US”, microsoft’s on scripts on github)
It is as if there is a market for this.
(Joking aside, I’m sure Microsoft engineers know this, but someone in the management chain is not releasing it as a product).
sukru,
Yeah, most of us working in the software industry will understand this is what it’s like behind the scenes. It’s this experience that keeps me from blaming the developers, many of whom really do share the public’s concerns but they’re not in a position to change the corporate agenda and priorities.
Alfman,
Yes, so much so that they hosted some of their setup (and declutter) scripts publicly: https://github.com/Microsoft/windows-dev-box-setup-scripts
The openly “remove default apps”:
https://github.com/microsoft/windows-dev-box-setup-scripts/blob/master/scripts/RemoveDefaultApps.ps1
And fixes the default file manager behavior:
https://github.com/microsoft/windows-dev-box-setup-scripts/blob/master/scripts/FileExplorerSettings.ps1
Hope they don’t get shut down if this becomes too public
The only difference between Windows 10 LTSC and Windows 10 IoT LTSC is the EoL for support. For regular LTSC, EoL is January 12, 2027, giving you just over two more years of support if you activated it today. EoL for IoT LTSC is January 13, 2032 which gives you just over seven years of support from today. Otherwise the two are exactly the same and you can use the regular LTSC installation ISO provided by Microsoft to install either one, you just have to have the appropriate license key that matches the edition you install.
Morgan,
Yes, I think that is true.
But IoT versions, both desktop Windows and server Windows editions offer more customizability.
I have not used the “embedded” line in a while, but basically you could cut pretty much anything.