

Instead, Server Core is designed to be managed remotely through the command line, PowerShell, or a GUI tool (like RSAT or Windows Admin Center). While maintaining the capabilities required to support traditional business applications and role-based workloads, Server Core does not have a traditional desktop interface. In other words, there is no desktop in Server Core, by design.

Microsoft-Windows-Cortana-PAL-Desktop-Package.Microsoft-Windows-Server-Gui-RSAT-Package.Microsoft-Windows-Server-Gui-Mgmt-Package.The main difference between the Server with Desktop Experience installation option and Server Core is that Server Core does not include the following GUI shell packages: When you finish installing Server Core on a system and sign in for the first time, you're in for a bit of a surprise. The Server Core difference - core capabilities without the frills For example, a Hyper-V server doesn't need a graphical user interface (GUI), because you can manage virtually all aspects of Hyper-V either from the command line using Windows PowerShell or remotely using the Hyper-V Manager. That's where Server Core comes into play: the Server Core installation eliminates any services and other features that are not essential for the support of certain commonly used server roles. However, the Server with Desktop Experience installation option still installs many services and other components that are often not needed for a particular usage scenario. When you install Windows Server, you install only the server roles that you choose - this helps reduce the overall footprint for Windows Server. Server (Core) vs Server with Desktop Experience Server Core has a smaller disk footprint, and therefore a smaller attack surface due to a smaller code base.

Server Core includes most but not all server roles. The Server Core option is a minimal installation option that is available when you are deploying the Standard or Datacenter edition of Windows Server. Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016
