About Server Core for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012
Server Core for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 is a minimal server configuration option that provides a low-maintenance environment. Server Core is designed to provide an environment that reduces:
- Servicing requirements
- Management requirements
- Attack surface
- Disk space usage
- Memory (RAM) usage
To accomplish its roles, Server Core only installs the binaries required by the configured roles. The minimal nature of Server Core creates these limitations:
- There is no Windows shell and very limited GUI functionality. The Server Core interface is a command prompt with PowerShell support. The limited GUI is provided by the Minimal Server Interface configuration option.
- There is limited MSI support (unattended mode only).
You can manage server core in the following ways:
- Locally and remotely using PowerShell
- A terminal server connection from a command line
- Remotely using Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
- Remotely with other command line tools that support remote management
In this section
Related topics
Minimal Server Interface for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012