Windows Server as a desktop OS?

[Thedudely1]

Hey, guys. It's about time that I do a Windows re-install, but recently I've become interested in Windows Server. From what I can tell, Windows Server is just Windows, but stripped down in someways and beefed up in other ways to make it more useful for server use. Now, it may sound like I just answered whatever question I was going to ask, but I'm still interested in using Windows Server on my main rig. The main reasons I would want to run Windows Server on my main workstation are: It being a server OS I can only assume it's built to be more stable and reliable than a standard bleeding edge OS, I've heard that it's cut down on all the background processes in Windows that aren't really useful for a server, and last, It just seems like it cuts out a lot of Windows bullshit like forcing you to update and making you link up a Microsoft account among other things. I know i'd be missing out on some of Window's features, but to be honest, I don't care. I don't give a damn about Cortana! I am however, very interested in stability. Although there are exceptions of course, for the most part, the only updates I care about are updates that improve performance, stability or fix a bug. If you know anything about Linux distros, then I want to use Windows Server over Windows for some of the same reasons someone would want to use Ubuntu LTS over Ubuntu. If I'm incorrect about any of my reasons for wanting to use Windows Server, then please correct me. What i'm curious about is are there any reasons why I shouldn't use Windows Server on my main workstation. I mostly browse the web, play games, dabble in game development. Maybe some applications won't work? Maybe Some drivers won't work? Maybe my computer will blow up if I install it on anything other than a Xeon? Really just any reasons why I shouldn't use Windows Server as a desktop OS. Thanks!

 

TL;DR: I want to use Windows Server as a desktop OS on my main rig. Why shouldn't I?

[Elapo]

If you can look past the things they've deliberately made harder in server (mainly getting software to install. You can't download files from just anywhere), and you're not afraid to do some fiddling around in settings, I don't see why it'd be a problem. People use it all the time on dual-CPU workstations too.

 

It's a lot more expensive IIRC though, not sure the premium is worth it if you're not using it as a server.

[TinkleMyWinkle]

As Elapo has said, it's a lot more utility based - it's not really optimized for the Desktop experience, it's literally built to run different types of process and services, and not so much for average Joe to be playing games etc.

 

In short it will work, if you don't care much about the user desktop experience - you may run into some capability issues as not all hardware will have a Windows Server driver for it. Keep in mind, Windows 7/10 on its own is still a very stable OS, it's what you put ontop of it that makes it unstable. That being said, not all applications will play nicely with Windows Server.

 

I've had Windows Server 2012 R2 running on an i3 without any issues.

 

*Edit : Utilitarian was the wrong word

[Thedudely1]

1 hour ago, TinkleMyWinkle said:

As Elapo has said, it's a lot more utilitarian - it's not really optimized for the Desktop experience, it's literally built to run different types of process and services, and not so much for average Joe to be playing games etc.

 

In short it will work, if you don't care much about the user desktop experience - you may run into some capability issues as not all hardware will have a Windows Server driver for it. Keep in mind, Windows 7/10 on its own is still a very stable OS, it's what you put ontop of it that makes it unstable. That being said, not all applications will play nicely with Windows Server.

 

I've had Windows Server 2012 R2 running on an i3 without any issues.

I see. Wouldn't it be possible to install the Windows 8.1 version of a driver on it's server OS counterpart or what ever version of Windows Server you're running?

 

1 hour ago, Elapo said:

If you can look past the things they've deliberately made harder in server (mainly getting software to install. You can't download files from just anywhere), and you're not afraid to do some fiddling around in settings, I don't see why it'd be a problem. People use it all the time on dual-CPU workstations too.

 

It's a lot more expensive IIRC though, not sure the premium is worth it if you're not using it as a server.

So Windows Server will stop you from downloading and installing some things from the internet? Why? I feel like there must be some way around that. 

[TinkleMyWinkle]

1 hour ago, Thedudely1 said:

I see. Wouldn't it be possible to install the Windows 8.1 version of a driver on it's server OS counterpart or what ever version of Windows Server you're running?

It's possible yes

 

Edit : Windows Server won't stop you from installing anything - you can install almost anything onto it, but Internet explorer by default in 2008+ is very restrictive, you just need to disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Configuration and should be good to go.

[Thedudely1]

14 minutes ago, TinkleMyWinkle said:

It's possible yes

 

Edit : Windows Server won't stop you from installing anything - you can install almost anything onto it, but Internet explorer by default in 2008+ is very restrictive, you just need to disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Configuration and should be good to go.

Internet Explorer is always fucking everything up. Thanks for the help!