Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012, codenamed "Windows Server 8",[7] is the fifth release of Windows Server family of operating systems developed concurrently with Windows 8.[8][9] Microsoft introduced Windows Server 2012 and its developer preview in the BUILD 2011 conference on September 9, 2011.[10] However, unlike Windows 8, the developer preview of Windows Server 2012 was only made available to MSDN subscribers.[11] It included a graphical user interface (GUI) based on Metro design language and a new Server Manager, a graphical application used for server management.[12] On February 16, 2012, Microsoft released an update for developer preview build that extended its expiry date from April 8, 2012 to January 15, 2013.[13] Before Windows Server 2012 was finalized, two test builds were made public. A public beta version of Windows Server 2012 was released along with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on February 29, 2012.[8] On April 17, 2012, Microsoft revealed "Windows Server 2012" as the final name for the operating system.[7] The release candidate of Windows Server 2012 was released on May 31, 2012, along with the Windows 8 Release Preview.[9] The product was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012 (along with Windows 8) and became generally available on September 4, that year.[4] However, not all editions of Windows Server 2012 were released at the same time. Windows Server 2012 Essentials was released to manufacturing on October 9, 2012[14] and was made generally available on November 1, 2012.[15] As of September 23, 2012, all students subscribed to DreamSpark program can download Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter free of charge.[16] Windows Server 2012 is based on Windows 8 and is the second version of Windows Server which runs only on 64-bit CPUs.[17] Coupled with fundamental changes in the structure of the client backups and the shared folders, there is no clear method for migrating from the previous version to Windows Server 2012.
