It is vital to note that Windows Server 2016 Standard entered on January 11, 2022.

Windows Server 2016 Standard introduced a suite of security features designed under the "Assume Breach" mentality—assuming attackers are already inside the network.

While creating Shielded VMs requires a Host Guardian Service (HGS), a Standard server can function as a guarded host. However, Standard edition cannot host Shielded VMs itself; it is limited to running non-shielded VMs. This limitation effectively forces highly secure multi-tenant environments to upgrade to Datacenter.

Within the Standard ISO lies the files for —a paradigm that has since been deprecated but was revolutionary at the time. Nano Server was a completely headless, 64-bit only deployment option that was roughly 1/10th the size of Server Core.