Windows Server 2012 R2

Not to be confused with Windows Server 2012.

Windows Server 2012 R2

Version of the Windows NT operating system
Screenshot of Windows Server 2012 R2, showing the Server Manager application which is automatically opened when an administrator logs on, start button, taskbar, and the blue color of Aero Lite
Developer	Microsoft
OS family	Windows Server
Working state	Current
Source model	Closed source / Shared source
Released to manufacturing	August 27, 2013;11 years ago (2013-08-27) [1]
General availability	October 17, 2013;11 years ago (2013-10-17) [2]
Latest release	6.3.9600 with February 2025 monthly update rollup / February 11, 2025;3 days ago (2025-02-11) [3]
Marketing target	Business
Update method	Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, SCCM
Platforms	x86-64
Kernel type	Hybrid (Windows NT kernel)
Default user interface	Windows shell (GUI)
License	Trialware
Preceded by	Windows Server 2012 (2012)
Succeeded by	Windows Server 2016 (2016)
Official website	Windows Server 2012 R2 (archived at Wayback Machine)
Support status
Mainstream support ended on October 9, 2018 Extended support ended on October 10, 2023 [4] Paid support via the Extended Security Updates program until October 13, 2026, only for volume licensed editions.

Windows Server 2012 R2, codenamed "Windows Server Blue", is the tenth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It was unveiled on June 3, 2013, at TechEd North America, ^[5] and released on October 18 of the same year. ^[2] It is the successor to Windows Server 2012, and is based on the Windows 8.1 codebase. It is the final version of Windows Server to use the "R2" suffix, which had been used since the release of Windows Server 2003 R2. ^[6]

It removed support for processors without CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, LAHF and SAHF.

A further update, formally designated Windows Server 2012 R2 Update, was released in April 2014. ^[7] It is a cumulative set of security, critical and other updates. ^[8] Windows Server 2012 R2, like previous versions of Windows Server before it and versions after it, is only compatible with 64-bit processors.

It was succeeded by the Windows 10-based Windows Server 2016. Mainstream support ended on October 9, 2018, and extended support ended on October 10, 2023. It is eligible for the paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which offers continued security updates until October 13, 2026.

Features

Windows Server 2012 R2 Start Screen, including Internet Explorer 11 and essential tools for use in a server

The following features are introduced in Windows Server 2012 R2:

• Automated Tiering: Storage Spaces stores most frequently accessed files on fastest physical media ^[9]
• Deduplication for VHD: Reduces the storage space for VHD files with largely similar contents by storing the similar contents only once ^[9]
• Windows PowerShell v4, which now includes a Desired State Configuration (DSC) feature
• Integrated Office 365 support (Essentials edition)
• User interface changes reflecting Windows 8.1, including visible Start button. ^[10]
• UEFI-based virtual machines
• Upgrades from driver emulators to synthetic hardware drivers to minimize legacy support
• Faster VM deployment (approximately half the time) ^[11]
• Internet Information Services 8.5: Support for logging to Event Tracing for Windows and the ability to log any request/response headers. To improve scalability, if IIS is configured with 100 or more web sites, by default it will not automatically start any of them. Alongside this, a new "Idle Worker Process Page-Out" configuration option has been added to application pools to instruct Windows to page-out the process if it has been idle for the idle time-out period (by default, 20 minutes). ^[12]
• Server Message Block: Performance and event logging quality improvements, support for Hyper-V Live Migration over SMB, bandwidth prioritization management, and the ability to remove SMB 1.0 support ^[13]
• Windows Deployment Services: Support for managing WDS via PowerShell. ^[14]
• Windows Defender is available in a Server Core installation, and is installed and enabled by default. ^{[15] [ dubious – discuss ]}
• IP Address Management (IPAM): Extended to support role-based access control, allowing for fine-grained control over which users can view or change configurations for DHCP reservations, scopes, IP address blocks, DNS resource records, etc. Additionally, IPAM can integrate with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 to have coordinated IP policy across both physical and virtual environments. The IPAM database can be stored in a SQL Server instance instead of Windows Internal Database. ^[16]
• Group Policy has a new "Policy Cache" setting which allows domain-joined machines to store a copy of the group policy settings on the client machine and, depending on the speed of access to the domain controller, use those at startup time instead of waiting for the policy settings to download. This can improve startup times on machines that are disconnected from the company network. ^[17] New Group Policy settings have been added to cover new features in Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11, such as enabling/disabling SPDY/3 support, configuring start screen layouts, and detecting phone numbers in web pages. ^[18]
• TLS support is extended to support RFC   5077, "Transport Layer Security (TLS) Session Resumption without Server-Side State", which improves performance of long-running TLS-secured connections that need to reconnect due to session expiration.
• Hyper-V role and Hyper-V management console are added to the Essentials edition. ^[19]
• Windows Server Update Services was made available for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials edition. ^[20]
• ReFS gained support for alternate data streams and automatic error-correction on parity spaces. ^[21]

Editions

According to the Windows Server 2012 R2 datasheet published on May 31, 2013, there are four editions of this operating system: Foundation, Essentials, Standard and Datacenter. ^[22] As with Windows Server 2012, the Datacenter and Standard editions are feature-identical, varying only based on licensing (particularly licensing of virtual instances). The Essentials edition has the same features as the Datacenter and Standard products, with some restrictions. ^[23]

Support lifecycle

Microsoft originally planned to end mainstream support for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 on January 9, 2018, with extended support ending on January 10, 2023. In order to provide customers the standard transition lifecycle timeline, Microsoft extended Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 support in March 2017 by 9 months. Windows Server 2012 reached the end of mainstream support on October 9, 2018 and entered the extended support phase, which ended on October 10, 2023. ^{[24] [25] [26]}

Microsoft announced in July 2021 that they will distribute paid Extended Security Updates for volume licensed editions of Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 for up to 3 years after the end of extended support. ^[27] For Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2, these updates will last until October 13, 2026. This will mark the final end of all security updates for the Windows NT 6.2 product line after 14 years, 2 months and 12 days and will also mark the final end of all security updates for the Windows NT 6.3 product line after 13 years, 1 month and 16 days.

See also

• Microsoft Servers
• Comparison of Microsoft Windows versions
• History of Microsoft Windows
• Comparison of operating systems
• List of operating systems

References

1. Anderson, Brad (27 August 2013). "Today is the RTM for Windows Server 2012 R2!". Enterprise Mobility and Security Blog. Microsoft.
2. Jeff Meisner (August 14, 2013). "Save the date: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows System Center 2012 R2 and Windows Intune update coming Oct. 18 - The Official Microsoft Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs". TechNet Blogs. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
3. "February 11, 2025—KB5052042 (Monthly Rollup)". support.microsoft.com. February 11, 2025.
4. "Search product lifecycle – Windows Server 2012 R2". Microsoft.com. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
5. Damien Caro (June 10, 2013). "Windows Server 2012 R2–First look - Damien Caro's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs". Blogs.technet.com. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
6. "What is Windows Server?—IT Glossary | SolarWinds".
7. "August updates for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 - Windows Experience BlogWindows Experience Blog". blogs.windows.com.
8. "Windows Server 2012 R2 Update (KB2919355)". Microsoft Download Center.
9. Jackson, Joab (June 5, 2013). "Windows Server 2012 R2 bulks up on storage and networking". PC World . IDG . Retrieved September 20, 2013.
10. Sams, Brad (June 25, 2013). "Windows 8.1 Start button revealed in Windows Server 2012 R2". Neowin.net. Neowin LLC. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
11. Tulloch, Mitch (2013). Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2 (PDF) (Preview Release ed.). Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press. ISBN   978-0-7356-8293-1 . Retrieved September 19, 2013.
12. "What's New in IIS 8.5?". Microsoft. 14 May 2020.
13. "What's New for SMB in Windows Server 2012 R2". 31 August 2016.
14. "What's New for Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2012 R2". 31 August 2016.
15. "What's Changed in Security Technologies in Windows 8.1". 25 June 2014.
16. "What's New in IPAM in Windows Server 2012 R2". 31 August 2016.
17. "What's New in Group Policy in Windows Server 2012 R2". Microsoft. 31 August 2016.
18. "What's new in Group Policy in Windows Server 2012 R2". Group Policy Central. 25 June 2013.
19. Fabritius, David (3 September 2013). "Understanding Licensing for Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and the Windows Server Essentials Experience role". The Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server Blog.
20. "Windows Server 2012 R2 Products and Editions Comparison". Download Center. Microsoft. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
21. "Resilient File System Overview". TechNet Library . Microsoft. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
22. "Cloud Optimize Your Business" (PDF). Microsoft. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
23. Mackie, Kurt (June 20, 2013). "Microsoft Enhancing Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials for SMBs". Redmondmag.com. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
24. "Windows Server 2012". Microsoft Docs. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
25. "Microsoft Extends Windows Server 2012 Support -- Redmondmag.com". Redmondmag. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
26. "Windows Server 2012 Nears End of life". February 3, 2020. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
27. "Product Lifecycle FAQ - Extended Security Updates". docs.microsoft.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.

Further reading

• Mackie, Kurt (June 20, 2013). "Microsoft Profiles Hyper-V Improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2". Redmondmag.com. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
• "Best of TechEd 2013 – What's New in Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2 - IT Pros ROCK! at Microsoft - Site Home - TechNet Blogs". Blogs.technet.com. June 10, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
• "Top Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Virtualization Features". Petri.co.il. June 3, 2013. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
• Savill, John (June 3, 2013). "New Features Windows Server 2012 R2 | Windows Server 2012 content from". Windows IT Pro. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
• Thurrott, Paul (June 7, 2013). "Windows Server 2012 Essentials R2 Preview | Windows Server 2012 content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows". Winsupersite.com. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
• "Microsoft Announces Windows Server 2012 R2 at TechEd 2013 North America - Canadian IT Professionals - Site Home - TechNet Blogs". Blogs.technet.com. June 3, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.