Retail licencePerpetual licence

Windows Server 2025 Standard

Download, installation and activation – explained step by step.

Before you start

  • A 64-bit server with at least 32 GB of free disk space.
  • The ISO file contains Standard and Datacenter. You pick the edition during setup.
  • Have the licence key from our email at hand.

1Download the installation media

Download the ISO file in the language you want. It contains both Standard and Datacenter – you pick the edition later during setup.

2 Download

Pick your language. You get an ISO file that Windows opens with a double click.

Not every language is on our server as an ISO. If yours is missing, download the same release straight from Microsoft’s Evaluation Center and activate it with your licence key.

Get Windows Server 2025 from Microsoft

3 Installation

  1. Write the ISO to a USB stick or mount it in your virtualisation.
  2. Boot the server from it and choose the edition you bought – Standard or Datacenter.
  3. Choose “Desktop Experience” if you want the graphical interface, then finish the installation.

4 Activation

  1. Open the command prompt as an administrator.
  2. Type slmgr /ipk followed by your licence key.
  3. Then run slmgr /ato and restart the server.

If the error stays, activation also works over the phone – no queue, an automated voice service. The step-by-step route is right below.

Phone activation

If activation over the internet does not go through, the phone route is still there. It works the same for Office, Windows and Windows Server: your computer shows a long installation ID, you read it out and get a confirmation ID back.

  1. Press the Windows key and R, type the following command and confirm: slui 4
  2. Pick your country. The wizard now shows the installation ID – several blocks of digits.
  3. Call the number shown, or open Microsoft’s support portal below, and read out the installation ID.
  4. Type the confirmation ID into the wizard’s fields and click “Activate”.

Open Microsoft’s support portal

Keep the computer on and the wizard open during the call – the installation ID changes as soon as you close the window. If you get stuck, we are happy to do it for you.