Today I downloaded and upgraded my Windows 2022 Server (DC Role) in my lab to the latest Windows Server Insider Edition. This is test lab so I would not recommend installing preview versions on production servers.
As with Windows 11 Insider Preview, there are new features that come out you can test, actually picked up a bug in the setup that shows Windows 11 after you resume the setup which is in the screenshots. Below are the steps performed, this machine has 4GB ram, 4CPU’s and 60GB HDD and the upgrade to the latest Windows Insider Server build took less than 45 min.
Shown above, the ISO image downloaded from the Microsoft Website.After opening the ISO and launching the setup, you are presented with the above. Click NextThe setup going through its process, checking for updatesYou need to enter in your product key here for the Next button to highlight so you can continue, once you have put in the product key, click NextSelect your edition, Server Core or GUI and then click NextAccept the license agreement and click NextSelect the option that suites you best and then click NextAnother window where the setup is processing information, once the Next button enables, click NextThe update now goes and checks for updatesSetup still busy, no input required right nowThis is the build before the updateThe setup stops at this point and you need to click the Enable button, nothing will appear to happen but all is done in the background. At this point you need to reboot the server, don’t worry, when you come back it will continue where it stoppedAfter the reboot, once you launch the setup again, you are greeted with this window, seems to be a splash screen that didn’t get updated, select the first option to Continue and then click NextThe splash screen heading is correct here, it will confirm the options and now you can click the Install button.This window will open and it actually goes through pretty quickly and then rebootsAfter the reboot, the standard window with reboots and applying updates or installing the OS appears as shown above
After the reboot, we now have a watermark at the bottom right hand corner
Windows 2022 Server Insider Preview 2
Below is the build information after the update
My DC is still operational after the update, obviously I would not do this on a production server as mentioned but it is good to know that things still work. From what I can see is that your taskbar resets the layout after the update and you kind of have a Windows 11 feel to the server, the blue flower background but still quick with 4GB of ram.
