14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just rolled out a new preview build of Windows Server 2019, and just like before, the company says it is particularly interested in collecting feedback on in-place OS upgrades and application compatibility.
Windows Server 2019 build 17677 does not support build-to-build upgrade and expires on December 14, 2018, so you can use it more than half a year before being required to install a newer release.
This new Server preview build comes with improvements for the performance history feature of Storage Spaces Direct, which now includes two new cmdlets. Start-ClusterPerformanceHistory and Stop-ClusterPerformanceHistory let you deal with issues by simply cleaning performance history, according to the release notes of this new build.
Smaller images thanks to optional content removed
Additionally, build 17677 comes with changes to reduce image size, with non-critical font components, which were previously offered as optional, now removed from container images.
“This change won’t affect the user experience of Windows Server Core, except that users now have the ability to enable or disable non-critical font components, like they can do for any other OC. For Server Core containers, only the default font, Arial, is supported; no other fonts are supported, and no others can be installed,” Microsoft explains.
The new Windows Server 2019 build ISO is offered in 18 different languages, while the VHDX package is only available in English. Furthermore, the Windows Server vNext Semi-Annual preview build is only provided in English regardless of the format being used, and Microsoft says that all images are pre-keyed and no license is required during the setup screen.
There are several known issues in this build, and you can read them in full in the box after the jump. To download Windows Server 2019 preview build 17677 users need to go to this page and enter their Insider account credentials.