Windows Server Technical Preview expires 15 April 2015

While Windows 10 technical preview has had quite a few updates since its initial release back late last year, we’ve only had the one release of Windows Server Technical Preview. When I fired up one of my VMs this morning I was reminded that this build expires on the 15^th of April 2015, around two weeks away.

Wanting to check that it just wasn’t my build, I spun up the Technical Preview image from the Azure VM gallery. Same result. A warning note that the technical preview would expire April 15, and would start shutting down every few hours after that date.

My suspicion is that the original plan was to have more releases of the technical preview by this point. That we’d be able to avoid the fate of the OS only working for a few hours by upgrading to a newer build of the technical preview.

The reality is that we haven’t had a new build since the original. There has been some rumors around that we’d see a new build to coincide with BUILD or IGNITE, but both those events are well after the April 15 deadline.

Hopefully, if you are still evaluating Windows Server technical preview, an update will be released at some point in the near future that extends the lifespan of the current build (at least the lifespan without shutting down every few hours) beyond 15 April.

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Orin Thomas is an MVP, an MCT, a Microsoft Regional Director, and has a string of Microsoft MCSE and MCITP certifications. He has written more than 30 books for Microsoft Press on IT Pro topics including Windows Server, Windows Client, SQL Server, Exchange, and System Center. He is an author at PluralSight and is a contributing editor for Windows IT Pro. You can follow him on twitter @orinthomas