Back in 2013, when Microsoft announced the release date for Windows 8.1, the company also added that Server 2012 R2 would, too, be out on the same day, ie, October 18th. R2, or the "Release 2" version of Windows Server 2012, was out only about a year after the original release. While we awaited that, Microsoft, due to ongoing criticisms from TechNet and MSDN subscribers, released the RTM (release to manufacturing) builds in September 2013.
It has been over a decade since then, and last year, in October, the company announced the end of support for both Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 OS.
Microsoft started developing the 2008 successor sometime in 2010, with the earliest known build being 7700. Speaking of builds, a new Server 2012 R2 pre-release build has leaked onto the web by members of the Betawiki Discord.
Twitter (now X) user and Windows enthusiast PhantomOcean3 shared screenshots of the build on their feed. The build is labelled Microsoft Confidential, and the build number is 8019.
The first thing that sticks out a bit in the WinVer screenshot above is the "2008" in the name of the OS, but that is expected from an early pre-release build, which is clearly based on Server 2008.
Besides the name, the overall aesthetics are quite different from how Windows Server 2008 looks and feels. The Aero glass effect is immediately noticeable, and the overall appearance is certainly much more pleasing to the eyes and is a step forward from the dated Windows 2008 R2 look.
This also appears to be the first known build where the Setup autorun switched to using the Windows Basic theme. You can see the comparison below against the previously known build 7965:
In case you can"t figure it out, the Before image is from build 7965, while the After image is build 8019.
Moving on from the Setup, the Start menu and the rest of the icons in it are minimalist. Although Windows 11 may be deemed the more modern OS, many users, including former Microsoft employees, say they are not very impressed with its performance.
For those who like the minimalist approach, don"t be surprised to find yourself appreciating this Control Panel more than the one in Windows 11.
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Currently, Microsoft is shipping Windows Server 2025 preview, and the tech giant recently detailed some of the improvements in it, which include 70 percent faster I/O throughput on NVMe.
Source and images: BetaWiki via PhantomOcean3 (X / Twitter)
Update: This article was written with the misconception that this leaked build was for Server 2012 R2. We apologize for the error.