System administrators have taken to Reddit to report a bizzare situation where Windows Server 2022 systems are unexpectiedly being upgraded to Windows Server 2025. Fatboy40 reports on Reddit that this problem occured on a client's servers with no way to revert back to Windows Server 2022.
From the standpoint of a typical Windows user, upgrading from 2022 to 2025 might sound like a great idea, but this type of behavior can turn into a nightmare for system administrators/IT. Operating system upgrades for server-grade applications need to be vetted and tested by IT to insure that any software the associated business/enterprise software running on the new version of Windows doesn't break compatibility.
Windows 2022 Servers Unexpectedly Upgrading to 2025, Aaaargh! from r/sysadmin
Fatboy40 says that three days ago, all of their client's Windows 2022 servers had upgraded to Windows Server 2025 or "were about to do so." The cherry on top is that this update was being pushed despite the fact that Windows Server 2025 technically requires new licensing — since Windows Server 2025 is classified as an all-new version of Windows Server and not an update such as Windows 11 24H2.
But it seems that the update was accidentally classified by Microsoft as both an optional update and a security update for Windows Server 2022 machines, according to an employee from third-party update service Heimdal.
"Our team discovered this discrepancy in our patching repository," wrote Andrei from Heimdal via Reddit "as the GUID for the Windows Server 2025 upgrade does not match the usual entries for KB5044284 associated with Windows 11. This appears to be an error on Microsoft's side, affecting both the speed of release and the classification of the update. After cross-checking with Microsoft’s KB repository, we confirmed that the KB number indeed references Windows 11, not Windows Server 2025."
The worst part? This type of upgrade on Windows Server is technically not officially supported, unlike Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrades. As a result, system administrators are stuck in the mud without any official method of downgrading their operating systems back to Windows Server 2022 if they don't have third-party solutions that offer system restore functionality from previously made backups.
