We’re excited to announce the release candidate (RC) of Azure DevOps Server, bringing new features previously available in our hosted version. You can download Azure DevOps Server RC today. A direct upgrade to Azure DevOps Server RC is supported from any version of Team Foundation Server, including Team Foundation Server 2015 and newer.
Note: October 14, 2025, is the date for the end of Extended Support for Team Foundation Server 2015. This means that it will no longer receive security updates or technical support. We strongly recommend that customers upgrade to the latest versions of Azure DevOps as they are released. Direct upgrade from this RC release to the eventual RTM will be supported. If you prefer to wait until RTM to upgrade your servers, trying out this RC on a test deployment is a great first step.
🚀 What’s New in Azure DevOps Server RC
Some of the new features delivered with this release include:
- TFX validates whether a task is using an End of Life Node runner
- Restore deleted test plans and test suites using REST API
You can read more details about these and all the new features in the release notes.
📢What’s Changing with this release
Lifecycle Policy: With this release, Azure DevOps Server is transitioning from the Fixed Lifecycle Policy to the Modern Lifecycle Policy. This change will align Azure DevOps Server with other Microsoft products offering a more flexible and future-ready experience.
Branding: We’re making a subtle change to how we brand the product; with Azure DevOps Server we’re removing the year from the name. Going forward, it’s simply “Azure DevOps Server”.
Previously, we’ve included the release year in the product name to help customers track major updates. However, this approach has led to confusion. Customers often ask whether a version labeled with a past year is still supported or current, even when it includes the latest fixes. By removing the year:
- We will simplify the branding and align it with our continuous delivery model.
- We emphasize that Azure DevOps Server is a living product, evolving with improvements and security updates.
🔁What Stays the same
We’ll continue to provide security updates for previously released versions until they reach the end of Extended Support. If we ever decide to retire Azure DevOps Server, we’ll provide at least a 3-year advanced notification per our Modern Support Lifecycle commitments so that customers can take action to prevent disruption.
✨Upgrade to the latest release today to enjoy new features! We’d love to hear your thoughts, let us know any feedback or questions via the Developer Community and stay tuned for more updates. As always, thank you for your partnership as we continue to evolve Azure DevOps Server to meet your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: What is changing with this release of Azure DevOps Server?
A: For the first time, Azure DevOps Server is being released under Microsoft’s Modern Lifecycle Policy. This means continuous support for customers who stay current with updates and meet servicing and system requirements, rather than a fixed end-of-support date.
Q: Will there still be major version releases?
A: No. Under the Modern Lifecycle Policy, Azure DevOps Server will no longer have major version releases every two years. Instead, updates will be delivered more frequently to a single, ongoing version of the product.
Q: How will the product be branded going forward?
A: The year will be dropped from the product name. The product will simply be called “Azure DevOps Server”.
Q: How does this affect licensing?
A: Customers can continue to license Azure DevOps Server through Azure (monthly) or via authorized resellers. Customers who buy through Azure can use both the hosted and server versions. Visual Studio subscribers will continue to receive one server license plus one user per month. You can learn more about Azure DevOps Server pricing here.
Q: Will support for older versions change?
A: Microsoft will continue to provide security updates for previously released versions until they reach the end of Extended Support under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. Purchasing Software Assurance does not extend support for older versions.
Q: What happens if Microsoft decides to retire Azure DevOps Server?
A: If support for Azure DevOps Server is ever ended, Microsoft will provide a notification to allow customers time to transition.
Q: Can customers migrate to Azure DevOps Services in the cloud from the new version?
A: Yes. Staying current with the latest version of Azure DevOps Server will make it easier for organizations to migrate to Azure DevOps Services in the cloud when they are ready.
Q: How will support teams identify which version a customer is using if there is no year in the product name?
A: Support teams will use the file version number to identify the specific build a customer is running.
Btw. is seems that you are still investigating an issue with Azure DevOps Server 2022 Update 2 Patch 6:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/server/release-notes/azuredevops2022u2?view=azure-devops#azure-devops-server-2022-update-2-patch-6-release-date-june-10-2025
I would actually like to see the name changed even further and remove “Server” from the name and replace it with “Enterprise” This would help elevate the confusion with the Services version.
Then you would have:
Azure DevOps Services – cloud solution
Azure DevOps Enterprise – onprem solution
Hi
That naming would cause confussion with GitHub, which offers:
– GitHub Enterprise Cloud
– GitHub Enterprise Server
So, it would be better:
– Azure DevOps Cloud
– Azure DevOps Server
Hi Anthony, thank you for the feedback.
Hi,
missing this feature:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/backlogs/automate-work-item-state-transitions?view=azure-devops
Hello Markus,
You are right, this is not working. We will get the release notes updated today.
Hi
Sorry for the many questions!
Can you elaborate on what will happen around v4 of the pipeline agent that is currently not supported by Azure DevOps Server?
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/It-is-unclear-if-Azure-DevOps-Server-sup/10960153
Not sure if this is connected, but we are also hit by the lack of support from the pipeline tasks PublishPipelineArtifacts/DownloadPipelineArtifacts (stuck on the older PublishBuildArtifacts/DownloadBuildArtifacts for on-prem) as we are using both Azure DevOps Server and Azure DevOps Services.
https://github.com/microsoft/azure-pipelines-tasks/issues/19698
It looks like that this version comes with the 4.254.0
@Gloridel
But is there an reason, why this version doesn`t come as a zip file with the installation instead of pointing to the internet for downloading?
Would be fine if the “build in” version is stored locally to avoid issues with build agent behind a firewall
And yes, I know that I can store it under “%AppDate%MicrosoftAzure DevOpsAgents”
Hi
We are currently testing the upcoming Visual Studio 2026 release in our build system with Azure DevOps Server 2022.2 and have run into similar problems as when Visual Studio 2022 was released. The pipeline agent (3.238.0) and some of the standard build tasks (MSBuild, VSBuild, VSTest) does not recognize the new version of VS:
https://github.com/microsoft/azure-pipelines-agent/issues/5320
https://github.com/microsoft/azure-pipelines-tasks/issues/21319
I wonder if this will be fixed in time for the 'RTM' or even better if you could convince the teams behind pipeline agents and tasks to make them open to future versions of VS. It is a little cumbersome to work around these issues...
Hi Tore, I have forwarded your feedback to the engineering team.
Hi Gloridel
Really looking forward to the release of new features :-)
Could the Feature Timeline be updated already now with the items that are expected to be part of the release? I wonder what you will put in the 'Server' column now that there is no year - the file version number or a date for the release?
Would it be fair to speculate that the 'RTM' will be time with the release of .Net 10 and Visual Studio 2026 on November 11th?
Hi Tore. We plan to release RTW at the end of the year, but don’t have an exact date yet.
Okay, I guess I did not count on getting a fixed date yet 🙂
But what about updating the Feature Timeline already now?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/release-notes/features-timeline-released