ML
    • Recent
    • Categories
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Register
    • Login

    Microsoft Licensing Primer

    IT Discussion
    licensing microsoft licensing
    16
    237
    142.2k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • DashrenderD
      Dashrender
      last edited by

      Now to really add confusion to the mix... you can purchase Software Assurance AND Upgrades to Desktop OSes through Volume/Open Licensing, but the base license itself can not be purchased through Volume/Open Licensing (though I think huge companies can purchase desktop OSes through Enterprise Agreement (EA), which would technically be another way to acquire Desktop OS Licenses).

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • DashrenderD
        Dashrender @coliver
        last edited by

        @coliver said:

        @Dashrender said:

        @scottalanmiller said:

        For DESKTOP there is only one option.

        Actually there are two, OEM and FPP.

        But for servers there are three, OEM, FPP and Volume/Open Licensing.

        Can't you get Windows Desktop OS's through a volume license agreement?

        nope, only SA and upgrades.

        J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • coliverC
          coliver @scottalanmiller
          last edited by

          @scottalanmiller said:

          @coliver said:

          Can't you get Windows Desktop OS's through a volume license agreement?

          No

          You can get VL ugprades, but no base desktop OSes.

          That's right thanks for correcting me.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • BRRABillB
            BRRABill @scottalanmiller
            last edited by

            @scottalanmiller said:

            Argh, why do these keep getting combined?

            a) i like creating havoc
            b) i am so learning

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • scottalanmillerS
              scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              Here is the really high level view. Until you get into very special cases you basically:

              • Always get your desktop OS as OEM with the machine when you buy it. You don't buy desktop OSes.
              • Always get your server OS from VL.
              BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • BRRABillB
                BRRABill
                last edited by

                So to refine this before moving on.

                DESKTOP: you can only obtain a license through OEM or FPP

                SERVER: you can obtain a license through OEM, FPP, or VL

                Is that correctly separated, and correct?

                scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • BRRABillB
                  BRRABill @scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  @scottalanmiller said:

                  Here is the really high level view. Until you get into very special cases you basically:

                  • Always get your desktop OS as OEM with the machine when you buy it. You don't buy desktop OSes.
                  • Always get your server OS from VL.

                  DESKTOP: When would you ever need to purchase a FPP? If you wanted to install another OS on a desktop that didn't already have that? For example if you licenses Vista on a machine, but wanted to wipe it and install Windows 10?

                  scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scottalanmillerS
                    scottalanmiller @BRRABill
                    last edited by

                    @BRRABill said:

                    So to refine this before moving on.

                    DESKTOP: you can only obtain a license through OEM or FPP

                    SERVER: you can obtain a license through OEM, FPP, or VL

                    Is that correctly separated, and correct?

                    Correct.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • scottalanmillerS
                      scottalanmiller @BRRABill
                      last edited by

                      @BRRABill said:

                      DESKTOP: When would you ever need to purchase a FPP? If you wanted to install another OS on a desktop that didn't already have that?

                      When you have a machine that has no OEM license and you are willing to pay the premium for FPP to get the flexibility that it can provide. FPP is super rare.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller @BRRABill
                        last edited by

                        @BRRABill said:

                        For example if you licenses Vista on a machine, but wanted to wipe it and install Windows 10?

                        That would be a bizarre use case since you can buy a much cheaper upgrade license instead.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • BRRABillB
                          BRRABill
                          last edited by

                          Super rare. Got it. 🙂

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • J
                            Jason Banned @Dashrender
                            last edited by

                            @Dashrender said:

                            @coliver said:

                            @Dashrender said:

                            @scottalanmiller said:

                            For DESKTOP there is only one option.

                            Actually there are two, OEM and FPP.

                            But for servers there are three, OEM, FPP and Volume/Open Licensing.

                            Can't you get Windows Desktop OS's through a volume license agreement?

                            nope, only SA and upgrades.

                            And imaging rights as part of the upgrade VL.

                            BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • BRRABillB
                              BRRABill @Jason
                              last edited by

                              @Jason said:

                              And imaging rights as part of the upgrade VL.

                              So that is my next question.

                              DESKTOP: What does VL licensing get you that's better than the straight OEM license?

                              DESKTOP: What do you need at a minimum to get VL? We discussed this before but I'd like to have it in this thread.

                              JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JaredBuschJ
                                JaredBusch @BRRABill
                                last edited by JaredBusch

                                @BRRABill said:

                                DESKTOP: What do you need at a minimum to get VL? We discussed this before but I'd like to have it in this thread.

                                This is not specific to desktop. You have to purchase 5 licenses at once via VL to get setup. They can be any 5 licenses. After that you can buy single licenses as needed.

                                BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • BRRABillB
                                  BRRABill @JaredBusch
                                  last edited by

                                  @JaredBusch said:

                                  This is not specific to desktop. You have to purchase 5 licenses at once via VL to get setup. They can be any 5 licenses. After that you can buy single licenses as needed.

                                  I think it might be specific to desktop since you can't buy license through VL for desktops. Isn't that correct?

                                  JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • JaredBuschJ
                                    JaredBusch @BRRABill
                                    last edited by

                                    @BRRABill said:

                                    @JaredBusch said:

                                    This is not specific to desktop. You have to purchase 5 licenses at once via VL to get setup. They can be any 5 licenses. After that you can buy single licenses as needed.

                                    I think it might be specific to desktop since you can't buy license through VL for desktops. Isn't that correct?

                                    You are misunderstanding. You can buy desktop OS UPGRADE licensing via VL. The only purpose of this licensing of course if to reimage your machines. SO you only need to buy one of these.

                                    But to get setup with VL, you have to buy 5 of any kind of license to get an initial VL agreement setup.

                                    JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • JaredBuschJ
                                      JaredBusch
                                      last edited by

                                      If you already have a VL agreement, you can simply buy the single desktop OS upgrade license that you need to get imaging rights.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                      • BRRABillB
                                        BRRABill
                                        last edited by

                                        Yeah, I am back to being confused.

                                        OK, so let's say I just bought 10 new DELL Windows 10 machines (with an OEM license, of course). I want to be able to re-image these with a standard image, as has been suggested here on ML.

                                        What do I need to do this? Perhaps real world examples are better.

                                        JaredBuschJ DashrenderD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • JaredBuschJ
                                          JaredBusch @JaredBusch
                                          last edited by

                                          @JaredBusch said:

                                          The only purpose of this licensing of course if to reimage your machines. SO you only need to buy one of these.

                                          Let me clarify that. The only purpose of this license is to give you reimaging rights, assuming that all your desktops are OEM licensed for the same or lower version of desktop OS that you buy via VL.

                                          If you have two machines with an OEM Windows 7 license, you are not allowed to image them both to 10 because you have a Windows 10 VL. You would need two Windows 10 VL. Or you would need to manually go through the Windows 10 upgrade on those machines first to make them legally Windows 10 devices.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • JaredBuschJ
                                            JaredBusch @BRRABill
                                            last edited by

                                            @BRRABill said:

                                            Yeah, I am back to being confused.

                                            OK, so let's say I just bought 10 new DELL Windows 10 machines (with an OEM license, of course). I want to be able to re-image these with a standard image, as has been suggested here on ML.

                                            What do I need to do this? Perhaps real world examples are better.

                                            For this scenario, you need to purchase a single Windows 10 VL.

                                            But if you do not have a VL agreement already, then you will need to purchase 5 total licenses of something in order to get setup with VL in the first place.

                                            BRRABillB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 3
                                            • 4
                                            • 5
                                            • 6
                                            • 7
                                            • 11
                                            • 12
                                            • 5 / 12
                                            • First post
                                              Last post