#1 most frequent
United States of America
45.3%24,309 installations of 53,720
What is Windows Server?
Categories & Use Cases
Product Demos
Top Performing Features
File Management
The system's method of storing, organizing, retrieving, and securing data in files and directories on storage devices.
Category average: 8.1
Software Application Management
The handling of software applications by the OS, including their installation, execution, resource use, and termination.
Category average: 8.1
Operating System Security
The measures and features within the OS that protect data and resources from unauthorized access, threats, and vulnerabilities.
Category average: 9.2
Areas for Improvement
System Update Frequency
How often the operating system receives patches or upgrades to improve functionality, fix bugs, and enhance security.
Category average: 8.2
Who Buys & Uses Windows Server
#2 most frequent
Germany
9.5%5,087 installations of 53,720
#3 most frequent
Canada
5.2%2,800 installations of 53,720
Pros
- Robust file sharing capabilities
- Comprehensive centralized management via Group Policy
- Reliable foundation for Active Directory and web hosting
Cons
- Disruptive and time-consuming update and patching processes
- Prone to update failures and persistent reboot loops
- Higher resource consumption than alternative platforms
Windows Server - Reliable Predictable Fully Featured and Easy To Use.
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Windows Server for everything from hosting back-office infrastructure such as file servers, printer management solutions and operation of third party solutions and services, managing and maintaining identity namespace data and IAM solutions, hosting Microsoft SQL Server database instances and full cycle development environments (Dev, Test, QA, Performance Testing, Pre-Prod) as well as operation of many solutions in the customer facing Production environment.
Pros
- File Sharing.
- Identity and directory services.
- Centralized management (Group Policy).
- Application hosting (SQL Server, IIS, .Net).
Cons
- Patching is disruptive requiring reboots/maintenance windows.
- Resource requirements are higher than competing options.
- System stability - memory leaks and other hangs require reboot.
- Large attack surface for bad actors to exploit.
Return on Investment
- Support for a wide range of applications (compatibility) This is especially valuable.
- The cost of licensing is significantly higher than that of many competing solutions, which means the justification has to be more complete.
- The initial environment setup with full organization management provides a complete solution set to get started.
- Patching/Frequent updates disruptive nature must be accepted.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
CentOS Linux, Rocky Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Other Software Used
Hitachi Content Platform (HCP), Dynatrace, Slack, Augment Code, Google Meet, Dell PowerStore, Dell PowerEdge, Delinea Secret Server, Atlassian Confluence, Atlassian Jira
Windows Server the backbone of commercial IT Environment
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft Windows Server is the foundation of any IT environment I have worked in. Starting with Active Directory domain controllers, scaling out with additional Windows Server with roles for File Services, Web, SQL, and Application servers. Windows has always been the dominant Server OS and more administrator friendly OS to work with.
Pros
- Interfaces and much easier to work with vs CMD line
- Security Updates released monthly and zero day patches when required
- Easy to install and maintain
Cons
- I regret when a Windows prompt overrides the input of an admin, a Window appearing from an OS prompt should not interfere with an active dialog box that an admin is working in
- There are a lot of security updates required, often times these take a long time to apply (pre and post reboot)
- Windows updates sometimes fail and continuously try to apply in a loop. This can be difficult to resolve at times, sometimes requiring input from a Microsoft technical resource
Return on Investment
- Active Directory is the pillar of our IT environment. Windows Server hosts this service flawlessly with minimal maintenance required.
- Windows Server host Web Services (IIS) on many Servers in our environment. It is proven to be very reliable, stable, and user friendly service.
- Microsoft Technical support can be a challenge. When opening support cases, the first tier of support, log collection, and triage of the incident can be time consuming. I've also experienced long wait times for log analysis and waiting for next steps to troubleshoot. This has occurred many times over the years. The support is most times outsourced to third party company.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft IIS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Omnissa Horizon, Omnissa Dynamic Environment Manager, Cisco Duo, BlackBerry UEM, SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM), SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), ManageEngine Device Control Plus and ManageEngine OpManager
Other Software Used
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), VMware ESXi, Cisco Duo
Reliable and Familiar
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Windows Server for almost all aspects of our infrastructure. Active Directory,, mail servers, file and print servers. With just a few exceptions where it made more sense to use ESXi and Linux on a few hosts, everything else is Windows Server. We've been using it since NT 4.0 and have used every version along the way up to 2025.
Pros
- Runs on almost any hardware
- Runs great in a VM
- Well suited to almost any role
Cons
- Update/patch installation
Return on Investment
- It's almost become an afterthought b/c it "just does what it should"
Usability
Alternatives Considered
VMware ESXi, CentOS Linux and Ubuntu
Other Software Used
Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365, Omnissa Horizon
Stable platform for Virtualization and RDS
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Windows Server's RDS as our platform for cloud application deployment to our customers. We also use HyperV virtualization to host additional Windows Servers as well as linux servers.
Pros
- RDS
- HyperV
- SMB file shares
Cons
- Better unity between hyperV management tools
- licensing is sometimes hard to understand
Return on Investment
- Licensing for our needs has been reasonable compared to other commercial hypervisor vendors and has saved us quite a bit in our particular use case anyhow.
- Uptime has been good, reducing support costs
Usability
Other Software Used
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS), Sage 100, ConnectWise Asio
Windows Server pros and cons
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use Windows Server for pretty much everyting. We use it as active directory domain , dns , dhcp , microsoft SQL and so on.
It helps to manage users, shares , folder permissions , authentication, and to manage users.
It is pretty straightforward and you have good documentation online for pretty much everything you want to acomplish.
It helps to manage users, shares , folder permissions , authentication, and to manage users.
It is pretty straightforward and you have good documentation online for pretty much everything you want to acomplish.
Pros
- User management
- File shares
- Ease of use
- Have a lot of functionality
Cons
- Updates that break things
- Price
- Be more robust
Return on Investment
- Improve setup time on new employees PC
- High pricing as negative
- Give control over your files
Usability
Alternatives Considered
CentOS Linux, Debian OS and Ubuntu
Other Software Used
Ubuntu, Debian OS, Wazuh, ESET PROTECT, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Power BI, Suricata IDS