Differences between Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 & Windows Server 2008

# Windows 2000 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008
1 Comes with Internet Explorer 5 Comes with Internet Explorer 6 Comes with Internet Explorer 7 and IE 8 in Windows Server 2008 R2
2 Comes with IIS version 5 Comes with IIS version 6 Comes with IIS version 7 and IIS version 7.5 in Windows Server 2008 R2
3 64 bit version not available 64 bit version available 64 bit version available
4 No Stub Zones Stub Zones introduced Stub Zones Available
5 Does not support .Net 2.0 Supports .Net 2.0 Supports .Net 3.0 and Windows Server 2008 supports .Net 3.5
6 Was Codenamed NT 5.0 Was Codenamed NT 5.1 Was Codenamed Longhorn
7 Not possible to rename a domain Possible to rename a domain Possible to rename a domain
8 Supports only IP V4 Supports both IP V4 & IP V6 Supports both IP V4 & IP V6
9 Shadow Copy not possible Shadow Copy introduced Shadow Copying possible for each and every folder
10 Schema version is 13 Schema version is 30 Schema version is 44
11 Does not support virtualization technology Does not support virtualization technology Supports Hyper-V virtualization technology
12 Active Directory introduced Active Directory improved Active Directory renamed to Active Directory Domain Services
13 Has only Server and Advanced Server versions Has Web, Standard, Enterprise and DataCenter versions Has Web, Standard, Enterprise and DataCenter versions
14 N.A N.A Possible to Start or Stop any Directory Service without having to shut down the Domain Controller. Good for Offline Defragmentation etc. Recovery of the Active Directory Database without having to reboot.
15 Audit logs can show who made changes to what attributes but does not show old values. Audit logs can show who made changes to what values but does not show old values. Audit logs can show who made changes to what attributes and can show both the old and the new values.
16 N.A N.A RIS is now called Windows Deployment Services (WDS)
17 Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC) not available Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC) not available. Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC) available