5 things you need to know about running a Windows server at home
Despite its roots as a general-purpose operating system, it’s possible to turn your Windows 11 machine into a reliable server. From Type-2 hypervisors like VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Pro that can simplify VM deployment to support for WSL2 and Docker containers, you can use a myriad of apps to create an experimentation-cum-self-hosting environment within Windows 11’s simple UI. Heck, I’d go so far as to say that it’s one of the easiest server OS for beginners to the home lab landscape.
That said, Windows 11 is rife with several issues that reduce its usefulness in a hardcore setup. So, here are five points you should keep in mind before you settle on Microsoft’s flagship OS to power your home lab.
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1
Automatic updates can forcibly restart your server
You should be the one in control, not the OS
Since security updates can fix bugs and security vulnerabilities, they’re undoubtedly essential for your home lab. Unfortunately, Windows is infamous for forcibly shoving updates down its user base’s throats. For starters, there’s the issue of Windows forcibly rebooting your system to wrap up the updates. If you’re running NAS workloads inside virtual machines, an ill-timed update is all you need to fall into a cesspool of data corruption errors.
What’s more, there isn’t a way to completely disable the updates, as Microsoft remains one step ahead of tinkerers regarding the auto-update mechanism. Regardless of whether you modify the system settings, run custom scripts, or even switch certain registry variables, Windows will re-enable the update sooner or later.
2
Higher system requirements
And more performance overhead
Back when Windows 11 was announced, the OS attracted a lot of infamy for its sky-high system requirements when compared to Windows 10. Once you consider the minimum hardware specifications required to run Proxmox, Debian, and other server-centric distros, it’s clear that the latest version of Microsoft’s uber-popular OS series requires a somewhat beefy system – at least by home lab standards.
But let’s set the system requirements aside for a moment. Even on a fairly decent PC, the container and VM performance will take a hit due to the system processes and apps hogging more CPU and memory resources than necessary. And that’s before you include the bloatware with Windows 11…
3
Extra bloatware and lack of privacy
Nobody likes data collection services snooping around their home lab
Microsoft has gathered quite a bit of notoriety for bundling bloatware in Windows. Unfortunately, this trend has continued on Windows 11, with the Redmond-based tech giant adding even more unnecessary AI apps on the OS. As if the additional resources consumed by these apps weren’t bad enough, many are rife with privacy issues.
If you’ve followed the Microsoft Recall fiasco, you may be aware that even the neutered version of the tool is a privacy nightmare. Throw in the telemetry provisions and advertisements built into the Start menu, and you might want to think twice about putting together a Windows home lab if you value the privacy of your projects.
4
More vulnerable to security threats
Compared to Linux-based virtualization platforms
Over the last decade, Windows has come a long way in keeping malware at bay… for the most part. While Windows Security works well for most users, the situation is quite different when it comes to hardcore home server workloads that involve exposing your apps and services to the Internet.
Couple the huge market share of Windows in the consumer space with numerous services accessing a multitude of ports in the background, and it’s clear why Windows 11 has a larger attack surface than your average Linux distro. Likewise, the hardened permissions and non-root default user in the Linux space make these distros more secure for a home lab than a consumer-grade Windows 11 edition.
5
High licensing costs
Especially if you plan to run Windows VMs inside hypervisors
While you’re free to deploy a multitude of distros and containers on your Windows server, the exorbitant licensing prices can rear their ugly face when you start using Windows 11 virtual machines for production-oriented tasks. The cost of setting up multiple VMs goes up when your workloads require the additional features offered by the Pro and Enterprise editions of the OS.
The pricing becomes even more convoluted when you include the discrepancies across the Hyper-V versions. While you could set up Microsoft’s ultra-useful hypervisor on Windows 11 Home, you’ll lose the Windows Sandbox feature. Heck, the Pro and Enterprise editions only support Hyper-V Server 2019, meaning you’ll have to upgrade to a Windows Server license to get the newest virtualization facilities offered by the hypervisor.
Linux vs. Windows: Which OS do you prefer for your home lab?
In addition to the points we’ve covered so far, Windows 11 supports a fairly small number of file systems. While there are a couple of third-party tools and drivers available for them, you could run into stability and data corruption problems if you try running BTRFS, ZFS, and other unsupported file systems on Windows 11.
That said, Windows 11 remains a fairly decent OS for rookie tinkerers who want to test the waters with virtualization and self-hosting projects on their daily driver.
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How I virtualized my Windows 11 PC using Disk2vhd and VirtualBox
You’ll need a beefy processor and lots of memory for this wacky project
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