Question: Explain How Big Should be Your Windows Server OS drive
Answer: For a clean installation of Windows Server 2012 R2, the System Requirements for Disk space is 32 GB minimum. However, this is for installing the Server in Core Mode with Internet Information Services (IIS). With the GUI, the size comes down to approximately 36 GB. If there is a size constraint, you need to remove all server roles or features that you do not use, in order to save disk space.
The minimum disk space will change if the OS is installed on a network based RIS Server or if you have a large amount of RAM (<16Gb or more). This is because for Network installs, files need to be staged locally, and for large memory based Servers (Including VM’s) you need to have some space for paging files, memory dumping, paging, Hibernation etc.
How to Capacity Plan Disk Space for Windows Server OS Partition?
Microsoft support recommends the following:
- 3 time the RAM size limited up to 32GB. i.e. 32×3 = 96 GB Disk Size.
- Additional 10-12 GB of Disk space for additional roles and features installed that needs to be installed. For 32 GB Systems (96 + 12 = 108 GB)
- Additional 10 GB for Windows Updates. (118 GB for 32 GB Systems)
- 10 GB extra space for miscellaneous files and logs (Perfmon, Server Trace etc.) (128 GB for 32 GB Systems)
- Any Disk Space requirements for applications that are installed on the OS partition are additional. For example Exchange, SQL, SharePoint etc.