Server Core and Server with Desktop: Which one is best for you

On March 20, 2018 we announced the availability of Windows Server 2019 preview, the next Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) release in the Windows Insider program. Seven weeks later, we released Windows Server, version 1803, the latest release in the Semi-Annual Channel. The Semi-Annual Channel primarily focuses on rapid application development. New cloud-born applications or migrated (“lift-and-shift”) traditional applications benefit significantly from the isolation, predictability, and orchestration offered by containers. Of course, container orchestrators are also cloud-based, which means that there is very little need to run an interactive desktop on the host operating system in these scenarios, so we’ve only included the Server Core installation option in the Semi-Annual Channel. Now that we’re about to release on both channels, and that we’re including the Server with Desktop Experience on only one of the channels, it’s a good time to talk about Server Core versus Server with Desktop Experience.