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Hardware requirements for Windows Server

To install Windows Server correctly, your computer must meet the minimum hardware requirements outlined in this article. If your computer falls short of these requirements, the product might not install properly. Actual requirements vary based on your system configuration, applications, and features that are installed.

Unless otherwise specified, these minimum hardware requirements apply to all installation options (Server Core and Server with Desktop Experience) for both Windows Server Standard and Windows Server Datacenter editions.

Important

The highly diverse scope of potential deployments makes it unrealistic to state recommended hardware requirements that would be applicable. Consult documentation for each of the server roles you intend to deploy to learn more about the resource needs of particular server roles. For the best results, conduct test deployments to determine appropriate hardware requirements for your particular deployment scenarios.

Components

Processor performance depends not only on the clock frequency of the processor, but also on the number of processor cores and the size of the processor cache. The following are the processor requirements.

Minimum:

  • 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor

  • Compatible with x64 instruction set

  • Support for NX and DEP

  • Support for CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHF, and PrefetchW instructions

  • Support for Second Level Address Translation (EPT or NPT)

  • Support for the SSE4.2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2) instruction set

  • Support for the POPCNT instruction

You can utilize Coreinfo, which is a tool included in Windows Sysinternals, to verify the capabilities of your CPU.

Secured-core server requirements

Secured-core is a set of integrated hardware, firmware, driver, and operating system (OS) security features that provide enhanced protection against advanced threats. Secured-core systems deliver security that starts before the OS boots and continues throughout system operation. Secured-core server features are available in Windows Server 2022 and later. To deploy a Secured-core server, your device must meet these additional requirements:

  • DMA Remapping (IOMMU): Support for Intel VT-d or AMD-Vi is required to ensure secure and efficient management of direct memory access (DMA) by devices, safeguarding against unauthorized memory access.

  • Kernel DMA Protection: The system must have opt-in capability for Kernel DMA Protection, which helps prevent attacks that exploit external peripherals to gain unauthorized access.

  • DRTM (Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement): This feature is needed to ensure a secure boot process by verifying the integrity of the system's startup environment, protecting against firmware-based attacks.

Note

In addition to the specific requirements outlined for Secured-core server, the following features must be enabled on your hardware:

  • TPM 2.0
  • Secure Boot
  • Virtualization-based Security (VBS) support, including hardware virtualization extensions

To learn more, see What is Secured-core server?.

Other requirements

There are other hardware requirements to consider depending on your scenario:

  • DVD drive (if you intend to install the OS from DVD media)

The following items are only required for certain features:

  • UEFI 2.3.1c-based system and firmware that supports secure boot

  • Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

  • Integrated or dedicated graphics and monitor capable of Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher-resolution

  • Keyboard and mouse (or other compatible pointing device)

  • Internet access (fees might apply)

Note

A TPM chip is required in order to use certain features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption. If your computer has a TPM, it must meet these requirements:

  • Hardware-based TPMs must implement version 2.0 of the TPM specification.
  • TPMs that implement version 2.0 must have an EK certificate that is either pre-provisioned to the TPM by the hardware vendor, or be capable of being retrieved by the device during the first boot.
  • TPMs that implement version 2.0 must ship with SHA-256 PCR banks and implement PCRs 0 through 23 for SHA-256. It's acceptable to ship TPMs with a single switchable PCR bank that can be used for both SHA-1 and SHA-256 measurements.