Christian Bontempi

How to install Windows Server 2019

The only really important question you need to answer when installing a Windows Server 2019, 2016 or 2012 system is what kind of installation you want to do:

  • Windows Server Standard

  • Windows Server Standard (Desktop Experience)

  • Windows Server Datacenter

  • Windows Server Datacenter (Desktop Experience)

To answer this question you need to know 2 things:

1) the difference between the Standard version and the Datacenter version

In this Microsoft article you can find all the differences between Windows Standard and Datacenter

Differences between Windows Standard and Datacenter

2) what Desktop Experience means

In practice, if you DO NOT select the Desktop Experience, you will install the version of Windows Core that does not have a graphical interface, but can only be used from the command line or can be managed remotely through the Server Manager

Most Windows installations use the Desktop Experience.