Microsoft’s new $1.50-per-core fee applies only to Windows Server 2025, not Windows 11, despite misleading headlines circulating online.

The issue started with a routine security update, KB5044284. It unexpectedly initiated the installation of Windows Server 2025 on systems running the 2022 edition, as TechSpot reports.

KB5044284 is a cumulative update, part of Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday effort, and Windows Server 2025 was supposed to be an optional update. This optional update is, in fact, the latest release in ...

It's worth noting that KB5044284 is a Patch Tuesday cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2 and, starting November, a Windows Server 2025 optional update.

It remains unclear to what extent the fact that Microsoft has made the Windows Server 2025 feature update generally available with the KB number KB5044284, which is the same number as the Windows ...

According to their Reddit post, they traced the issue to the Windows Update API, which had mislabeled the 2025 upgrade as KB5044284 – a number that should actually correspond to a Windows 11 update.

Specifically, the numbering of 'KB5044284,' a Windows 11 update delivered in October 2024, was actually an upgrade to Windows Server 2025. In other words, the 'update' and 'upgrade' of the OS were ...

According to Heimdal’s Cybersecurity Architect Andrei Hinodache, the GUID for Windows Server 2025 was linked to the KB5044284 security patch, causing automated patch management tools to ...

According to Hinodache , the GUID for the Windows Server 2025 update did not align with typical records for KB5044284, which indicated a mislabeling issue within Microsoft’s update process.