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Windows Server on Azure

Trusted cloud platform for your Windows Server workloads
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Run your business-critical workloads with hybrid cloud agility and advanced security.
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OVERVIEW

Migrate Windows Server workloads to Azure

  • Protect your Windows Server workloads with multilayered, built-in security.
  • Migrate your Windows Server estate to simplify the integration of AI advancements.
  • Maximize your Windows Server investments with Azure Hybrid Benefit and free Extended Security Updates.
BENEFITS

Secure, adapt, and innovate

Cloud agility anywhere

Unify and manage your servers across hybrid, multicloud, and on-premises environments with Azure Arc.
Try Azure Arc

Enhanced security

Boost security with advanced threat protection, simplified updates, and new server message block (SMB) features.
Learn how

Scale, performance, and efficiency

Get a protected, highly scalable virtualized infrastructure with Azure Virtual Machines.
Learn more

Built-in security and compliance 

Microsoft has committed to investing USD20 billion in cybersecurity over five years.
We employ more than 8,500 security and threat intelligence experts across 77 countries.
Azure has one of the largest compliance certification portfolios in the industry.
Learn more about security on Azure
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PRICING

Reduce costs with Windows Server virtual machines

Reduce your monthly consumption pricing on Azure when applying the Azure Hybrid Benefit discounted rate for Windows Server and SQL Server. Maximize your Azure savings by purchasing your compute resources in advance with reservation pricing.
See Windows Server Virtual Machine pricing
RESOURCES

Get started with Windows Server on Azure

Explore documentation, resources, and related products for Windows Server on Azure.
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Documentation

Learn more about Windows Server

Browse documentation to find everything you need to know about Windows Server.
Get started
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Training

Windows Server management

Learn how to manage Windows Server workloads in a hybrid environment.
Start learning
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E-book

Windows Server on Azure Guide

The Ultimate Guide to Windows Server on Azure helps you understand how and why to run Windows Server workloads on Azure.
Get the guide
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CUSTOMER STORIES

Learn from Windows Server customers

  1. Logo of HOKKOKU FINANCIAL HOLDINGS
  2. Logo of Relativity
  3. Logo of MIAMI
  4. Logo of Sanofi
  5. Logo of ctt
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Logo of HOKKOKU FINANCIAL HOLDINGS

“It’s a relief to be protected by Microsoft’s world-class security….”

Atsushi Shintani, Executive Officer, General Manager of the Information System Department, Hokkoku Bank
10%
saved through optimization
Products
Microsoft defender
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Logo of Relativity

“Windows containers made it easy for us, because we already are a .NET shop, and it really shortened our time to delivery.”

Shelby Lewin, Senior Product Manager, Relativity
12x
faster application response
Products
Kubernetes Service
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Logo of MIAMI

“With Azure VMware Solution, there was no need to retrain our admins—for the most part, they could use their existing VMware knowledge.”

Mari Lovo, Director of Cloud Infrastructure Services, University of Miami
Products
AzureVM
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Logo of Sanofi

“Azure gives Sanofi the ability to easily scale workloads up and down as needed in dynamic ways.”

Sam Chenaur, Vice President and Global Head of Infrastructure, Sanofi
 Up to 500%
reduction in mean time to recovery
Products
AzureVM
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Logo of ctt

“We have access to incredibly powerful technologies with Azure.... We can provision new resources in only a few hours, which used to take us more than a week, and we can get new solutions to market far faster.”

Paulo Costa, Infrastructure Monitoring and Collaboration Manager, CTT
15%
initial savings with Azure
Products
AzureVM
Back to CUSTOMER STORIES section

Frequently asked questions

  • You can migrate a range of guest operating systems to Azure. This includes all the supported Windows Server versions and VMs from VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V environments with Azure Site Recovery. VMs migrated from these on-premises virtualization platforms run as native Azure infrastructure as a service (IaaS) VMs and are not dependent on the on-premises hypervisor. Windows Server customers using VMware can move or extend VMware environments to Azure with Azure VMware Solution.
  • We'll meet you where you are, whether you decide to stay on premises or adopt a hybrid model. In the meantime, check the end-of-support date for your version of Windows Server. Keep it running with Extended Security Updates, and ensure that you’ve upgraded to the latest version to take advantage of all the innovations. Many Windows Server customers operate both on-premises and in the cloud and can benefit from adaptive cloud innovations. Learn how to simplify complex environments that extend across datacenters, the edge, and multiple clouds with Azure Arc.
  • Explore Azure Virtual Machines pricing and the pricing calculator to choose the VMs that best suit your needs.
  • Yes. Azure Hybrid Benefit lets you use your existing Windows Server licenses with Software Assurance or Windows Server subscriptions for significant savings on Azure. Depending on your edition of Windows Server, you can convert or reuse your licenses to run Windows Server VMs on Azure and pay a lower base compute rate. For each license, Azure will cover the cost of the OS for up to two VMs while you pay only the base compute VM costs.
  • Yes. There's no upfront cost, and you pay for only what you use. Azure provides flexible purchasing and pricing options for all your cloud scenarios, including Azure Hybrid Benefit and Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances. Azure also offers a comprehensive set of tools to help you manage your cloud spend, including Microsoft Cost Management. Use the pricing calculator to determine your total cost of ownership (TCO), and learn more about Azure pricing.
  • It's important to keep Windows Server up to date. Your options for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 include:
  • Microsoft Learn offers a variety of training modules that you can use to learn about migration and modernization options for on-premises server workloads. A common approach for hosting Windows Server on Azure is with Azure Virtual Machines. To learn how to plan and deploy Windows Server Virtual Machines on Azure, follow this learning path. You can read more about how to use Azure compute services and Windows Virtual Machines in our detailed documentation.
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NEXT STEPS

Azure Migrate and Modernize

Find curated resources and expert help to migrate or modernize on-premises servers to Azure.
Learn how
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Start free

Windows Server on Azure

Try Windows Server in the cloud with an Azure free account.
Try Windows Server for free
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Contact Sales

Start a chat session or call Sales.
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