Hello Windows Insiders!

Today we are pleased to release a new build of the Windows Server vNext Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) release that contains both the Desktop Experience and Server Core, as well as a new build of the next Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel release, Microsoft Hyper-V Server and Windows Admin Center 1808.

What’s New

To see the full list of new functionality introduced in earlier builds of Windows Server, plus updated installation instructions for the Server Core App Compatibility FoD Preview that includes support for Internet Explorer 11, see aka.ms/ServerInsider-WhatsNew .

Host Device Access for Containers

We’re adding the capability to assign simple buses to process-isolated Windows Server containers. Applications running in containers that need to talk over SPI, I2C, GPIO, and UART/COM will now be able to do so. To learn more, and to see how to leverage the feature, see Bringing Device Support to Windows Server Containers in the Virtualization Blog.

SDN High Performance Gateways

Organizations today deploy their applications across multiple clouds including on-premises private clouds, service provider clouds, and public clouds such as Azure. In such scenarios, enabling secure, high-performance connectivity across workloads in different clouds is essential. Windows Server 2019 brings huge SDN gateway performance improvements for these hybrid connectivity scenarios, with network throughput multiplying by up to 6x!!!

For more details about these improvements, please see our blog entry: Top 10 Networking Features in Windows Server 2019: #6 High Performance SDN Gateways

Available Content

Windows Server 2019 Preview is available in ISO format in 18 languages, and in VHDX format in English only. This build and all future pre-release builds will require use of activation keys during setup. The following keys allow for unlimited activations:

Datacenter Edition 6XBNX-4JQGW-QX6QG-74P76-72V67 Standard Edition MFY9F-XBN2F-TYFMP-CCV49-RMYVH

Windows Server vNext Semi-Annual Preview – The Server Core Edition is available in English only, in ISO or VHDX format. The images are pre-keyed – no need to enter a key during setup.

The Server Core Edition is available in English only, in ISO or VHDX format. The images are pre-keyed – no need to enter a key during setup. Microsoft Hyper-V Server

Windows Admin Center Preview 1808 – see http://aka.ms/WACPreview1808-InsiderBlog for full details.

Symbols are available on the public symbol server – see Update on Microsoft’s Symbol Server blog post and Using the Microsoft Symbol Server. Matching Windows Server container images will be available via Docker Hub. For more information about Windows Server containers and Insider builds, click here.

This build will expire December 14th, 2018.

How to Download

To obtain the Insider software downloads, registered Insiders may navigate to the Windows Server Insider Preview download page. If you have not yet registered as an Insider, see GETTING STARTED WITH SERVER on the Windows Insiders for Business portal.

We value your feedback!

Use your registered Windows 10 Insider device and use the Feedback Hub application. In the app, choose the Windows Server category and then the appropriate subcategory for your feedback. In the title of the Feedback, please indicate the build number you are providing feedback on in this format:

[Server #####] Title of my feedback

We also encourage you to visit the Windows Server Insiders space on the Microsoft Tech Communities forum to collaborate, share and learn from experts.

Known Issues

[NEW] Notepad may crash or display an empty pane when a user selects File > Open.

[NEW] Authentication that uses Public Key Cryptography User-to-User (PKU2U) to access an SMB volume can result in an error, STATUS_LOGON_FAILURE, due to an invalid private key in the certificate for a cluster-created user account (CSUSR) on each cluster node. This issue can cause cross-cluster migration in cluster sets to fail, as well as possibly cause global namespace mappings to fail, leading to virtual machines being unable to access storage.

[NEW] The Base Filtering Engine service may consume an inordinate amount of memory after starting and stopping thousands of containers.

[NEW] The operating system has an unnecessary utility account for Windows Defender Application Guard.

The Virtual Hard Disk Miniport Driver (Vhdmp.sys) may experience a bug check, SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (7e).

When a Windows Defender Application Guard container crashes, the resulting type of dump may be unexpected.

On a preview build of the operating system, Narrator is not available by default after installation. On an affected system, the audio service is disabled by default.

On recent preview builds, database applications might not be able to initialize a database and fail with a stack overflow or insufficient privileges when the database is located on an SMB volume.

Shielded VMs running Linux do not boot. The loader (LSVMLoad) waits for a passphrase for the boot partition.

Creating or modifying environment variables by using setx fails on a system running in a Nano Container (that is, Nano Server as a container image). On an affected system, setx requires a specific path in the registry, HKCU\Environment\, to exist by default. You can work around this issue by changing where the variable is stored in the registry, or you can add the expected registry path before executing setx commands. To specify that the variable be set for system-wide use in HKLM rather than in HKCU, the default, add the /M switch to a setx command. To instead add the expected registry path, run reg add HKCU\Environment before executing setx commands.

Terms of Use

This is pre-release software – it is provided for use “as-is” and is not supported in production environments. Users are responsible for installing any updates made available from Windows Update. All pre-release software made available to you via the Windows Server Insider program are governed by the Insider Terms of Use.

No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service,

Dona <3