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Applies To: Windows Server 2016
This topic addresses the minimum system requirements to run Windows Server(r) 2016.
In this release, clean installations are recommended.
If at the time of installation, you choose to install with the Server Core option, you should be aware that no GUI components are installed at all and you will not be able to install or uninstall them with Server Manager. If you need GUI features, be sure to choose the "Server with Desktop Experience" option when you install Windows Server 2016. For more information, see Install Nano Server
The following are estimated system requirements Windows Server 2016. If your computer has less than the "minimum" requirements, you will not be able to install this product correctly. Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration and the applications and features you install.
Unless otherwise specified, these minimum system requirements apply to all installation options (Server Core, Server with Desktop Experience, and Nano Server) and both Standard and Datacenter editions.
The highly diverse scope of potential deployments makes it unrealistic to state "recommended" system requirements that would be generally applicable. Consult documentation for each of the server roles you intend to deploy for more details about the resource needs of particular server roles. For the best results, conduct test deployments to determine appropriate system requirements for your particular deployment scenarios.
Processor performance depends not only on the clock frequency of the processor, but also on the number of processor cores and the size of the processor cache. The following are the processor requirements for this product:
Minimum:
Coreinfo is a tool you can use to confirm which of these capabilities you CPU has.
The following are the estimated RAM requirements for this product:
Minimum:
If you create a virtual machine with the minimum supported hardware parameters (1 processor core and 512 MB RAM) and then attempt to install this release on the virtual machine, Setup will fail.
To avoid this, do one of the following:
Computers that run Windows Server 2016 must include a storage adapter that is compliant with the PCI Express architecture specification. Persistent storage devices on servers classified as hard disk drives must not be PATA. Windows Server 2016 does not allow ATA/PATA/IDE/EIDE for boot, page, or data drives.
The following are the estimated minimum disk space requirements for the system partition.
Minimum: 32 GB
Be aware that 32 GB should be considered an absolute minimum value for successful installation. This minimum should allow you to install Windows Server 2016 in Server Core mode, with the Web Services (IIS) server role. A server in Server Core mode is about 4 GB smaller than the same server in Server with a GUI mode.
The system partition will need extra space for any of the following circumstances:
Network adapters used with this release should include these features:
Minimum:
A network adapter that supports network debugging (KDNet) is useful, but not a minimum requirement.
Computers running this release also must have the following:
The following items are not strictly required, but are necessary for certain features:
Trusted Platform Module
Graphics device and monitor capable of Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher-resolution
Keyboard and Microsoft(r) mouse (or other compatible pointing device)
Internet access (fees may apply)
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip is not strictly required to install this release, though it is necessary in order to use certain features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption. If your computer uses TPM, it must meet these requirements:
For detailed steps to install Windows Server 2016 as a Nano Server, see Install Nano Server.