Appreciating the Windows Server 2016 Desktop Experience

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We’ve talked a lot about Nano Server in this blog, but we know many customers will still appreciate the full desktop experience on Windows Server. Here’s what you get when you install that option and why you would want to use it.

When you install Windows Server with the full desktop experience, you are getting the same great Windows 10 UI experience with the added ability to install server roles and features. Features like Streaming Media Services, Windows Server Update Server, and RDS workloads run best on the full desktop experience.

In recent Windows Server 2016 Technical Previews, you may have noticed that the Windows Server with Desktop Experience installation option included a few additional Windows Client only features such as Microsoft Edge, Windows Store Client, and the Modern Calculator.

These features were temporarily included to gather additional feedback on their potential uses on Windows Server before shipping our RTM release. In the Windows Server 2016 RTM, they are replaced with the following:

 

If you are using...                               Now use...

Windows Store Client          >>>          Windows Store for Business

Microsoft Edge                    >>>          Internet Explorer 11

Modern Calculator App       >>>          Classic Calculator

 

We expect most folks will not be affected by this change. However, if you have built any automation, processes, etc. that leverage these excluded features, we recommended that you review your usage of them and make any necessary changes to leverage the features that replaced them in the RTM release.

 

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 04, 2016
    Why did you do this? What's the significance? Please don't gloss over the interesting details.
    • Anonymous
      October 05, 2016
      The Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) versions of Windows, which includes Windows Server 2016, don't include Microsoft Edge or many other Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. These apps and their services are frequently updated with new functionality, and can't be supported on systems running the LTSB operating systems.
      • Anonymous
        October 06, 2016
        Yes, but there are several reasons why windows server 2016 should have an option to install the store and edge. Most importantly, there are several services and built-in features of Windows 10 that are still present in windows server and therefore should not be included if there is no option to use them. For example, MAPS downloaded broker service, Why is it there in the server? All of these unnecessary services are now in server but they do not utilize the apps that they were put into the client for. We understand that Windows Server had to be developed rather quickly, and most of the focus had to be on the new features, however, I strongly feel that by leaving out the store and Edge, this leaves a lot of functionality still in the Server 2016 desktop experience that is unnecessary added fluff. There are many people who install server on their laptop as well, and have been using it as a desktop hyper-v server against best practices, but still wanting to use it for day to day use and administration. I have always used a server on one of my laptops, and would have liked to be able to develop and install windows store apps on the server. Hopefully, you will look into adding an optional package in the future with the store and edge, since the functionality is still in there, and all the extra services that are doing nothing now that edge and the windows store is missing.
        • Anonymous
          June 15, 2017
          The comment has been removed
      • Anonymous
        October 17, 2016
        If you don't include Edge, you are effectively pushing away people from using it in RDS/XenApp/VMware-environments. What should we us? IE11? (Allow me a pause to laugh sarcastically in your general direction).
        • Anonymous
          November 17, 2016
          We are using an Azure-based Server 2016 RDS to support computer training classes. Since our training curriculum is Windows 10 oriented, we hope to allow students to see Edge on the RDS session, which is currently not possible. I sincerely hope that Edge will be included on Server 2016, at least as part of the Remote Desktop role.
  • Anonymous
    October 08, 2016
    I second James. I understand that you can't have OSes, binaries and apps "as a service" in the land of "legacy" LTSB. But I don't understand why that disqualifies Edge by default. Couldn't you just keep updating it simultaneously with the rest of the code base every couple of months? I'm not aware that Edge has it's own, dedicated updating mechanism, or does it? On the other hand, IE is so stone-age by now that it is beginning to show serious compatibility issues with lots of newer html (5). Plus, IE is bloated, slow and clunky. I'd really appreciate an option to install Edge optionally. And James is right - there is still lots of bloatware and remnant modern stuff in the desktop experience that makes no sense at all anymore without Edge. As it stands, I'm forced to use chrome on 2016 servers... go figure!
  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2016
    The strategy is very short sighted. We planned on using the Server 2016 as our next generation RDS platform. One of the big selling points was replacing IE 11 with the modern browser Edge. We are now forced to move Chrome to the center of our browsing strategy.
  • Anonymous
    October 13, 2016
    We do SharePoint development, which requires Windows Server. So it is a server that acts as a desktop. In addition, we do DevOps from our instances. It is a mistake to not allow this type of role (running client applications on Windows 2016 as we would on Windows 10).
  • Anonymous
    October 24, 2016
    +1 to all of the previously mentioned comments. It's a little absurd to have removed these options without being able to install them separately at a minimum.Killing Edge on Server is similar to killing Edge in general. It's indicating that MS isn't serious enough about it to fully replace IE.Not have the store isn't as big of a deal, but it's still an important enough missed option to really hinder the idea of UWP. Isn't the whole concept that they are Universal? Should they not run on ALL Windows desktop options if desired??
    • Anonymous
      October 24, 2016
      And it's a little frustrating that the default picture/photo viewer is Paint. With a web server, when updating image files, it's kind of handy to not have to open the images in Paint first to ensure I'm using or renaming the right file.
  • Anonymous
    October 24, 2016
    The decision to removing Edge is weird, even Windows 2016 TP5 has Edge installed.As some comments mentioned, Windows Server is also been used as development environment which is a closer to the targeted running environment. The time saving from difference environment is one convenience keep us paying for yearly MSDN Subscription (not cheap). I am afraid, MSDN subscription is slowly turning into an luxury-item instead of shall-have if this kind of decisions continue.Thank you for your cares for software development.
  • Anonymous
    October 30, 2016
    If Firefox have LTSB version, I believe that Microsoft can manage to make an Edge LTSB version as well…https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/
  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2016
    Absurd... power users using workstations still often prefer server OSs ... and developers, too. You should not try to think too much for your customers.
  • Anonymous
    November 02, 2016
    What a joke.... Ooow No it's not funny at al.Why not in the desktop experience option, till the last preview it was available.What do we tell our internal customers who are using RDS that has to be almost identical to a desktop experience.Now you are pushing customers into a direction where they are going to use 3rd party browser and this not only on the RDS servers but also locally ont their desktop or laptops. Because they want the same user experience.
  • Anonymous
    November 02, 2016
    Keep up the excellent job !! Lovin' it!
  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2016
    It makes sense that these items aren't included in the LTSB. What's disappointing is that the LTSB is being forced on users of Windows Server.
  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2016
    The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      November 14, 2016
      The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      November 18, 2016
      Have the exact same question, any solutions?
      • Anonymous
        December 01, 2016
        The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      December 14, 2016
      you can manage vsphere and vcenter with the new vsphere html5 webclient. Search "VSPHERE HTML5 WEB CLIENT"
    • Anonymous
      December 31, 2016
      The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    November 10, 2016
    My opinion is completely different. Why should I want a full Desktop Experience on a Server as a Standard GUI?Really stupid decision to have only the possibility between full bloatware or Core. No decision anymore for a more or less small Server GUI as it was standard on earlier Versions and a separate Feature Package to add Desktop Experience if you want to do.
  • Anonymous
    November 15, 2016
    The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      December 14, 2016
      Ironic on the mixed messages, isn't it? So is Edge the most secure browser (in which case it should be included in the server)? Or isn't it (in which case it should be removed from Windows 10)? ;-)Further strange that non-LTSB Windows Server 2016 editions don't include Edge either.
  • Anonymous
    November 16, 2016
    The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      December 05, 2016
      @Ricardo, do your IE11 Selenium tests work okay with the Nano server?
  • Anonymous
    November 16, 2016
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    November 21, 2016
    You guys ever thought of the Photo viewer app? This one is also not available on the same terms I assume.so the default photo viewer is paint (wow....serieusly?)Can't find any articles besides this one that comes close to a explanation for the missing photo viewer in RDSH 2016
  • Anonymous
    December 08, 2016
    No Edge in Server 2016? Great job Microsoft: You just killed our organizations one motivating factor to upgrade our remote desktop services to 2016. Furthermore, on any other server that has the full GUI installed, why wouldn't you want a modern and compliant browser with better security versus the dated and increasingly incompatible IE? I seriously wonder sometimes if anyone at Microsoft has any brain cells left.
  • Anonymous
    December 11, 2016
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    January 16, 2017
    Is there any (worthwile) point now in upgrading an RDSH environment from 2012 R2 to 2016? We'd have to switch to Google Chrome ...
  • Anonymous
    February 07, 2017
    Wow; been starting to fall in love with Edge. Been using it on mobile and desktop and loved the integration. Now, this... the releasing of Server 2016 without it... Yikes.
  • Anonymous
    February 19, 2017
    TL;DR:- save the below to a .reg file then run "merge". Windows 2016 has the files, just the registry entries need to be added.---Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open]"MuiVerb"="@photoviewer.dll,-3043" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command]@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\00,31,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget]"Clsid"="{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command]@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00,\6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,\25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,50,00,68,00,6f,\00,74,00,6f,00,20,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,50,00,68,00,\6f,00,74,00,6f,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\00,22,00,2c,00,20,00,49,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,56,00,69,00,65,00,77,00,\5f,00,46,00,75,00,6c,00,6c,00,73,00,63,00,72,00,65,00,65,00,6e,00,20,00,25,\00,31,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget]"Clsid"="{60fd46de-f830-4894-a628-6fa81bc0190d}"---* To enable the "Windows Photo Viewer" in windows 2016:"How to Enable Windows 10 Photo Viewer in All Editions?"http://www.technig.com/enable-windows-10-photo-viewer/The article is for Windows 10, but I've just confirmed that it works in Windows Server 2016 too. In Windows 10, the "photos store app" is used instead of "Windows Photo Viewer".However, in Windows Server 2016, the store is disabled, so Windows Server 2016 doesn't have either of the above apps.(Manual installing of store apps "might" work, but I haven't tried, and no idea if they would be kept up to date).
  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2017
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    February 23, 2017
    This is joke? How can I say to people, that they can't longer use their favourite Photo Application, and they must use "Paint". RDS on Windows 2016 without apps from Store is useless.
  • Anonymous
    March 07, 2017
    The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      March 07, 2017
      This is a Windows Store App downloaded from the microsoft business store.
    • Anonymous
      March 08, 2017
      Using powershell cmdlet add-appxpackage to install the offline package. Store for Business is available, but it does not allow getting the Windows Store App from Windows Store or LOB (online) apps. Only LOB(offline) option is available in RTM.
  • Anonymous
    May 14, 2017
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    September 04, 2017
    I'm thoroughly lost with this decision. I use Windows server 2016 on Workstations with AWS. Works great, except now my employees and I can't use edge or any of the products from the Windows store. That's on the silly side don't you think? Why bother having a windows store at all! Let us install the Play Store if your going to do that... actually, I wonder if I can install the play store...