Thinking about implementing Windows Server 2025‘s new Hotpatching feature for your on-premise servers? This interactive checklist and cost estimator is designed to help you prepare. Walk through the essential technical prerequisites, from UEFI and Secure Boot to connecting your servers with Azure Arc. Once you’ve confirmed your readiness, use the calculator to estimate the monthly and annual costs based on your specific hardware configuration. Get a clear picture of both the technical requirements and the budget impact before you begin. Windows Server 2025 Hotpatching — On‑Prem Readiness & Cost Checklist

Windows Server 2025 Hotpatching Checklist

On-Prem Readiness & Cost Estimator

A) Readiness Checklist (On‑Prem / Multicloud)

Tick each prerequisite. Items marked Required must be met.

Windows Server 2025 installed

Required

UEFI firmware

On Hyper-V, this means using a Generation 2 VM.

Required

Secure Boot enabled

Verify in firmware or VM settings.

Required

Virtualization-based Security (VBS) enabled

Includes Virtual Secure Mode; HVCI recommended.

Required

Azure subscription available

Used for Arc onboarding and Hotpatch billing.

Required

Server is Azure Arc-connected

Connected Machine agent is installed and healthy.

Required

Hotpatch enabled via Azure Update Manager

Enable on the Arc server and choose the update cadence.

Required

Maintenance policy decided

Monthly hotpatches are no-reboot; quarterly baselines require a reboot.

Recommended

C) Cadence & Operations

Monthly hotpatches apply without a reboot; quarterly baseline updates will require one reboot.

Operational Owner

Maintenance Window

Record who owns policy & scheduling. Use Azure Update Manager to orchestrate rollout rings.

B) Cost & SKU Applicability

Scenario

On-prem requires Azure Arc. In Azure, Datacenter: Azure Edition includes Hotpatch.

CPU Cores/Server

# of Servers

Price/Core/Month (USD)

Edition

Estimated Cost

Monthly (per server): —
Monthly (all servers): —
Annual (all servers): —

SKU Matrix

Scenario	Edition	Arc Required?	Price
On‑prem / Other	Standard / Datacenter	Yes	$1.50 / core / mo
Azure	Datacenter: Azure Ed.	No	Included

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