Difference Between Windows and Windows Server

The Windows operating system captures a significant portion of the operating system market share. As such, it can be considered one of the most popular operating systems. It offers an operating system in 2 major variants namely,

1. windows for desktop
2. windows server

Microsoft Windows Server 2022 is the latest server edition of Windows 11. It is important for you to know that both serve different purposes. So let’s try to understand what is windows server and how it differs from Windows?

Difference Between Windows and Windows Server

Microsoft Windows Server 2022 is the latest server edition of Windows 11. It is aimed at businesses and supports high-end hardware. Running the same Task View button and with the same Start menu, it’s hard to find what’s different between the two siblings. But some important dissimilarities can help us to define their nature.

1. Storage, control and network
2. Less accessibility
3. Core support
4. Memory Support
5. Network connections
6. Microsoft Store or Edge browser support
7. Windows Updates
8. Price for deployment.

1]Storage, control and network

While Windows for Desktop is used for computing and other day-to-day tasks in offices or schools, Windows server is mainly used to run the services that people use on a certain network. It can be considered a series of enterprise-class server operating systems designed to share services with multiple users and have extensive administrative control over data storage, applications, and corporate networks.

2]Less accessibility

If you are on Windows Server, you cannot sign in Microsoft account. This severely limits the scope of accessibility as you cannot use the account to access settings on another PC and use your Microsoft account to download important files/documents/folders via OneDrive or Office Apps. You can only log in with a domain account.

3]Support for cores

In terms of cores, Windows 10 with 32-bit can only support 32 cores; 64 bits can however handle larger sizes (256 cores). On the other hand, Windows Server can support an infinite number of cores.

4]Memory support

Both support different memory sizes. A Windows computer running Windows 11/10 Enterprise has a 4GB memory limit on an x86 and a 2TB limit on an X64. These numbers multiply by collectors when you upgrade to the Windows Server version. You can view them. This Microsoft document describes memory limits for supported Windows and Windows Server versions.

5]Network Connections

If you desire a large number of network connections, then Windows for Desktop will not meet your expectations. It is only limited to 20 connections. Its counterpart, i.e. Windows Server, can offer as many network connections as you want, provided it has sufficient hardware capacity.

6]Microsoft Store or Edge browser support

This is one area where Windows for Desktop manages to outperform Windows Server. Features like Windows Subsystem, Progressive Web Apps, and Your Phone for Linux are available under Microsoft Store. Windows Server does not support Microsoft Store. Likewise, if you’re looking to run Edge on Windows Server, you’ll be disappointed. Unlike Windows 10, Windows Server uses IE (Internet Explorer), and this cannot be used for web browsing. Also, if you want to try Google Chrome, you need to relax exceptions for all Google URLs to complete the download.

7]Windows Updates

Another area where Windows for Desktop takes over Windows Server. Windows updates arrive faster on Windows desktop than on Windows Server. Also, it features a timeline, not visible on Windows Server.

8]Deployment Price

Finally, a very important factor that must be taken into consideration – the price! Windows Server 2016 licenses are relatively expensive. For example, if you have a business, depending on your size and needs, a single license can cost between $500 and $6,200. For this reason, most buyers opt for a volume licensing route instead. Windows Server is designed primarily for business, so it’s priced accordingly. It is therefore advisable to choose a system that is best for you and your needs and selected keeping in mind the need to recover, repair or migrate.

Recent iterations of Windows Server offer more flexibility as they can be deployed either on a cloud platform such as Microsoft Azure or on hardware in an organization’s data center. Also, the addition of new features such as Server Manager and Active Directory makes Windows Server a good alternative. While the former is a utility for administering server roles and making configuration changes to local computers, the latter allows easy automation of user data management.