Hyper-V Server 2025: Nope but sort of?

I think many have been dismayed about the discontinuation of Hyper-V Server. The last version that you can officially download is Hyper-V Server 2019. However, with the release of the Windows Server 2025 Preview ISO, I want to show you guys how you can install a new Windows Server 2025 installation and have roughly the same functionality as Hyper-V Server 2019 and you can have access to the server until the Preview Edition Expires.

What is Hyper-V Server?

Hyper-V Server is the free version of Microsoft Windows that has Hyper-V already installed. It is free to download without a license and you can essentially run VMs for free. However, if you are running Windows VMs you are still subject to licensing those.

It has long been a good option for home labs or small orgs/SMBs that just needed to run a few Linux VMs for various use cases. The last available release of Hyper-V Server is Hyper-V Server 2019.

Disclaimer about the process

Keep in mind that the process we are using to install Hyper-V in Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Core below does not relieve you of the licensing obligations you have. While Hyper-V Server up to 2019 was free to run forever, Windows Server 2025 will need to be licensed, and then if you have Standard edition, Windows OS’es outside of 2 VMs will need licensed as well.

Installing Windows Server 2025 Datacenter

First, we need to get Windows Server 2025 Datacenter installed and running. I am throwing this in a quick VMware vSphere virtual machine with the default settings, after uploading the ISO image up to my ESXi host.

Where can you download the Windows Server 2025 ISO? You can download it for free from the Microsoft Evaluation Center here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2025

• How long is it good for? 180 days.

Creating a new virtual machine

With the walkthrough below, I will be using VMware vSphere to create a new virtual machine to install Windows Server 2025. Note the following steps to do that.

After mounting the host ISO to a new virtual machine, I have stepped through the virtual machine wizard and created a new VM with the settings you see on the summary screen. Here I have already stepped through the new VM creation wizard to create a new virtual machine. This is the summary screen.

Windows Server 2025 installation looks basically identical to the Windows 11 24H2 installation with a redesigned installation workflow.

After booting the virtual machine we will go through the installation wizard for Windows Server 2025. First, we need to confirm the keyboard settings.

Next, choose to Install Windows Server and I agree everything will be deleted including files, apps, and settings.

Next, we have the ability to enter a product key. However, since this is preview, I just selected I don’t have a product key.

Next, to align with the standard for Hyper-V Server, we will select Windows Server 2025 Datacenter (without the Desktop Experience) option. This means we are installing Windows Server 2025 Core. The traditional Hyper-V Server up to Hyper-V 2019 (the last Hyper-V server officially released) all ran on Windows Server Core installations.

On the applicable notices and license terms, click Accept.

Select the location of the hard disk where you want to install Windows Server 2025.

Now, we are ready to install. Click the Install button.

The installation of Windows Server 2025 Preview begins. You will see the server reboot a few times before the installation is completed.

Initial user setup

Finally, after the installation is finished, you should see the note that you need to change your password before signing in.

The password for the user is successfully changed.

Now, we have made it to the sconfig utility, which is the de facto tool for customizing, configuring, and administering Windows Server Core installations from the console. If you accidentally exit out, you can just type “sconfig” again to launch the menu-driven interface.

Rename your Windows Server 2025 host

Now, we can do things like rename our Windows Server 2025 host if we want, using the sconfig utility. First, select option 2 for Computer name.

Setting the hostname that you want to use in Windows Server 2025 sconfig.

After setting the hostname you want to use, you will confirm the restart with a Y. The server will immediately restart.

You can also join your Windows Server 2025 server to the domain if you want.

Installing the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2025 Core

Let’s now install the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2025 Core edition so we can start working with the Hyper-V role and running virtual machines.

Once we have made it to the PowerShell prompt, we can type the following command to install the Hyper-V role on our server:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Hyper-V -IncludeManagementTools -Restart

The command consists of the following parameters:

• Install-WindowsFeature: This is the official cmdlet that we can use to install roles and features in Windows Server from PowerShell
• -Name Hyper-V: We are here specifying the Hyper-V role
• -IncludeManagementTools: This additional parameter allows installing the Hyper-V Manager
• -Restart: Once the installation is complete, this tells the server to restart to finish adding the Hyper-V role

Connecting to Hyper-V Server 2025

There are a couple of ways we can connect to our Hyper-V Server 2025 box. We can use the traditional Hyper-V Manager and simply choose the option to Connect to virtualization server Another Computer. Enter the IP address of the newly provisioned Hyper-V Server.

Or, we can use Windows Admin Center; which is the preferred way moving forward for interacting with modern versions of Windows Server and administering role services like Hyper-V. However, there may still be a few things you can’t do with Windows Admin Center that you can do in the legacy tools, so keep that in mind.

Wrapping up thoughts on Hyper-V Server 2025

While this isn’t an official release of Hyper-V Server, primarily from a licensing standpoint. Downloading the 180-day evaluation is a great way to experience Hyper-V server in a home lab environment or trial it out if you want to play around with its features and functionality.

We can have the same look and feel of the sanctioned Hyper-V Server release by installing Windows Server 2025 Core edition and then adding the Hyper-V role to our Windows Server 2025 installation. Let me know in the comments if you are playing around with Hyper-V now in your home lab environment.