What’re Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Requirements?

What’s Windows Server 2022?

The latest Microsoft officially released operating system Server 2022 is built on the strong foundation of the successful Server 2019 and brings many innovations in respect to security, Azure hybrid integration and management, and application platform. Meanwhile, the Datacenter edition – Azure Edition helps you use the advantages of cloud to keep your VMS up to date while minimizing downtime. As you can see, Server 2022 brings much convenience and a decent number of practical options. However, if you want to apply this OS to your computer, you must make sure your machine’s hardware meets the minimum requirements.

Hardware requirements for Windows Server 2022

Windows Server 2022 has requirements for your computer’s hardware to ensure it works normally. What they’re? Read on because the requirements for different parts of your hardware are listed as follows.

Processor

The clock frequency, the number of cores, and the size of the processor cache are the major factors that influences the performance of the processor. To successfully install Windows Server 2022, please make sure your process meets the following requirements.

1) 1.4 GHz 64-bit

2) Compatible with x64 instruction set

3) Supports NX and DEP

4) Supports CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHD, and PrefetchW

5) Supports Second Level Address Translation (EPT or NPT)

To have a rough knowledge of your processor, follow the steps given below.

1. Launch the Start menu from the lower left of the desktop and select “System”.

2. Scroll down and click on “About” on the left. Then you can find the processor specs below “Device specifications”.

Memory/RAM

The Windows Server 2022 hardware requirements for RAM must be met as well. As mentioned above, you can also check the info of your RAM by following “Settings > About”.

1) 512 MB (2 GB for Server with Desktop Experience installation option)

2) ECC (Error Correcting Code) type or similar technology, for physical host deployments

Disk space

There’s should be enough disk space to hold the Server 2022 operating system and relevant data. To successfully install this OS, there should be at least 32GB of free space on your computer and the installation of GUI asks for an extra 4GB. Besides, pay attention that the system partition requires additional storage space in the cases below:

1) System installation over a network

2) Computer with over 16GM RAM – more space for paging, hibernation, and dump files are required

To check how much storage space you have on your disk, follow the steps below:

1. Open “Settings” from the start menu.

2. After entering “Settings”, follow “System > Storage”. Then, you can view the specific info of your local storage.

2 ways to enlarge disk space

If there is not enough free space on your disk, then, you’re unable to install Windows Server 2022. So, here are 2 ways to enlarge your disk space when there is insufficient disk storage.

Option 1. Allocate free space

When it comes to enlarging a partition, most people will first think of the Windows built-in program Disk Management which contains a feature – “Extend volume”. Of course, you can use this feature, as its name suggests, to extend your partition with unallocated space. However, sometimes you may find the option “Extend volume” greyed out. It’s because to extend a partition with Disk Management, there should be unallocated space to its right. Namely, cannot extend a volume with unallocated space that’s not contiguous to it.

In this case, I recommend a better alternative – AOMEI Partition Assistant Server –  a versatile and powerful disk management program - to allocate free space to the targe partition from other partitions wherever they’re.

Download the demo of this impressive disk manager to extend the system partition for Server 2022 installation with ease.

Step 1. Install, run AOMEI Partition Assistant Server and wait until all partitions and their hard disks appear on the home interface. Then, right-click on a partition that you want to allocate free space from and select “Allocate Free Space”.

Step 2. Choose the target partition you want to allocate the free space to and preset the amount of space you want to allocate. After that, click on “OK”.

Step 3. Click on “Apply > Proceed” to start the allocation process.

Option 2. Move apps to another disk

If you don’t want to enlarge the Server 2022 system partition by shrinking another partition, then, you might as well try moving extra apps from the system partition to another one to free up space. More secure than simply copying and pasting, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server allows you to move apps along with their boot files from one drive to another without any data loss.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Server and click “Free up” on in the top toolbar, and choose “App Mover”.

Step 2. Select the system partition you want to extend and click on “Next”

Step 3. Tick the apps you want to move, preset the destination, and click on “Move”.

Click on “OK” to confirm the prompt.

Step 4. Hit “Finish” after the operation is completed.

Network adapter

Network adapters for Windows Server 2022 should consist of an Ethernet adapter able to transmit at least 1GB per second. What’s more, they should also be compliant with the PCI Express architecture specification.

Note: If the network adapter support network debugging and Pre-boot Execution Environment, then, it’s good news. However, they are not minimal requirements for Server 2022 network adapters.

Other Windows Server 2022 system requirements

Other than the factors mentioned above, you should also make sure your computer meets the following system requirements:

1) Internet access

2) Trusted Platform Module

3) Equipped with a DVD drive (if you plan to install the OS via disk media)

4) Graphics device and monitor capable of Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution

5) Keyboard and Microsoft mouse (or other compatible pointing devices)

6) UEFI 2.3.2c-based system and firmware with the support for secure boot

How to convert MBR go GPT to match the UEFI boot mode?

As you can see above, Windows Server 2022 asks for a UEFI boot mode which means the boot disk must be GPT instead of MBR. However, what if your current hard disk is in the MBR partition style? Don’t worry, you can still use the AOMEI product to convert MBR to GPT without deleting any data or files.

Conclusion

In the post above, you’ve learnt what Microsoft Windows Server 2022 requirements are in different aspects. Meanwhile, you’ve also learnt what to do when there’s no sufficient storage space for Server 2022 installation. Here, a powerful third-party utility called AOMEI Partition Assistant Sever is introduced to help extend the system partition with its feature of free space allocation and app mover. Besides, the AOMEI product also contains many other functions including partition merging, OS migration, and HDD to SSD clone.