Country United States. The number of businesses audited by Microsoft in for inadequate licensing. Possible licensing configurations for Microsoft. Over-Licensing usually happens when companies are afraid of being audited by Microsoft with a SAM Software Asset Management audit, and so they go overboard and end up buying too many licenses for the amount of software and users they really have.

While some companies assume this strategy works to avoid a negative audit from Microsoft, they actually end up throwing away thousands of dollars, all of which could have been avoided through correct licensing.

Under-Licensing is when companies have not bought enough software licenses for the number of users they are allowing onto the network, which can likely be much more expensive than over-licensing.

The extra expense is due mostly to the SAM audit mentioned earlier in which Microsoft will scan your network to see how many active users and devices you have, and then cross reference that with the licensing you currently have.

In order to become compliant, you will have to purchase versions of the open license software necessary at full retail price. The best way to avoid the high costs, embarrassment, and firing those responsible for theoversight is to be correctly licensed in the first place.

There are a few kinds of Microsoft software licenses to know about to ensure that you do not overpay for too many licenses nor become the victim of a Microsoft audit:. The software license is the actual product license, such as the Windows Server license, for the software itself. This kind of license is different from user and device licensing, which are required separately.

Windows Server Essentials is the most basic license that allows for up to two concurrent remote connections and only one installation either physical or virtual. This kind of license is ideal for smaller work environments that have less than 25 users and only require one installation and two or less remote connections. Each Windows Server Essentials license covers 2 processors, regardless of cores. Windows Server Standard is the normal license for most medium to large organizations and offers unlimited concurrent remote connections with each requiring an RDS CAL.

The Standard version allows for one physical installation and up to two VMs. It should be noted that an additional license is required for every two VMs added to the installation. You are technically allowed to add an unlimited amount of VMs, but it may not be as cost effective. If you have more than eight VMs, it would be more cost effective to upgrade to Datacenter to avoid purchasing an extra license for every two VMs.

Windows Server Datacenter is designed for highly virtualized environments, and offers the most robust features. The ability to have unlimited virtual machines makes Datacenter more cost effective than Standard when you get past around 8 VMs, as with Standard you are required to have 1 license for every 2 VMs.

OLP and OEM are sold differently, and have different requirements and features, and are explained in more detail below. Under Microsoft Windows Server licensing, you must license a minimum of 16 processor cores per machine even if your machine has less than 16 cores.

Fortunately, the Standard OEM license will cover up to 16 processor cores per machine. Since OEM software licenses are sold as core sets, you may consider an OLP license instead if you have more than 16 cores but less than 32 as in that scenario the OLP licensing would be less expensive overall.

OLP licensing is sold as 2-core licenses with each covering two processor cores of your machine. Since there is still a minimum of 16 cores that must be licensed, you will have to buy a minimum of eight OLP licenses to satisfy this requirement. If you have 16 or fewer cores loaded onto your machine, it’s typically less expensive to get one core OEM license than eight individual 2-core OLP licenses.

OLP is typically a bit more expensive than OEM, but offers a few key benefits over OEM, including transfer rights and downgrade rights, and OLP is typically required to be purchased to become compliant if you are found out of compliance during an active Microsoft SAM audit.

Downgrade rights allow users to purchase the latest version of a particular software licensing, and use it with previous versions of the same software; for example, purchasing a license for Windows Server , but using Windows Server This is typically done when a user is currently already using an older system, but plans to upgrade their system at a later time to the newer version.

If you have OLP licensing, you are allowed downgrade rights and then would also get transfer rights so you can use previous Windows Server versions until you’re ready to migrate to the newer version.

When you are ready to upgrade, uninstall the older version and then install the newer version, all the time remaining compliant. Transfer rights allow you to uninstall your software from one machine and reinstall it onto another machine. This option is ideal if you plan on upgrading your server or getting a new server. Additionally, you can avoid having to repurchase all of your licensing.

OEM licensing doesn’t include transfer rights, so be sure to purchase OLP licensing if you would like to have this option. Computer systems contain two parts to remember when calculating the number of physical cores for license purchasing:. The easiest way to determine your physical core number is to multiply the total number of CPUs by the total number of cores contained within each CPU. A virtual machine is an imitation of a physical computer system, providing the same functionality of a physical machine.

Use of a virtual machine is typically warranted by utilizing specialized hardware or software, such as Windows Server software. This can be used to provide multiple users with operating system functionality without using other physical machines.

While it can vary from case to case, Microsoft will typically require OLP licensing and won’t allow you to purchase OEM licensing if you’re already in the process of an audit. UCAL licenses are for specific users to connect to the server where the software is installed, no matter which device they are using to connect to it. While there are different scenarios where sometimes it would make more sense only to license the device or the user, situations that require the user to be licensed would need a UCAL license.

DCAL licenses are for specific devices that connect to the server where the software is installed. While there are different scenarios where sometimes it would make more sense only to license the device or the user, situations that require the device to be licensed would need a DCAL license. This licensing option is different from the DCAL, UCAL, and Software License in that it is used for external connections, or connections made from devices or users outside of the local network.

Windows Server is by default only accessible in the local access network where the server machine is located. To access a server from outside of the network a team member working from home or in another office for example , someone would either need to proxy into the network where the server machine is located or get an RDS license to access it. An RDS license is much more secure, and some industries and companies require the security compliance offered by an RDS.

However, an RDS is applied to the machine with Windows Server installed itself, and allows permission for the outside users or devices to gain access to the machine. While licensing your software products can be complicated, My Choice Software is here to make things much more clear when it comes to ensuring you have the correct licensing for your machines and users. We are a Value Added Reseller, meaning that we add value to the transaction rather than simply being a low-priced leader.

Our value is measured more in the long-term rather than the short-term, as most low-priced leaders are. A low-priced leader will provide all savings upfront upon purchase, but will not continue to add value after the transaction is complete, which include ensuring that the products and licenses you buy are the best fit for you. Rather than simply providing our customers with the lowest prices available, My Choice Software chooses to give customers the best value in the long term.

We do this by working with you to make sure that the setup you are purchasing will be the right kind for you to avoid the pitfalls of over-licensing and under-licensing, which as you know now can be very costly. While My Choice Software does offer competitive pricing, the focus is to ensure that you have what you need to be productive as well as compliant the first time around.

For the best possible pricing, please fill out the form below and one of our certified Microsoft licensing experts will contact you within 15 minutes during business hours, or the following business day. American Owned and Operated. Log in. Close menu. Products See More “Close Cart”. Office See More “Close Cart”. Windows See More “Close Cart”.

Project See More “Close Cart”. Visio See More “Close Cart”. Comparisons See More “Close Cart”. Savings See More “Close Cart”. Shopping Cart. Cart 0. Back to School Sale! Code B2S As a business owner or an IT expert that utilizes Microsoft software for your employees, not being properly licensed can land you in hot water with Microsoft, which does not look good for your financial situation or company image.

Many IT experts think their licensing is fine because they know Microsoft products very well, but the reality is quite different: many businesses endure hardship from unnecessarily high costs, loss of resources, and company embarrassment due to having incorrect licensing of Microsoft products. Unfortunately, Microsoft licensing is very complex as there are seriously hundreds of Microsoft software licensing configurations that exist. For Windows Server alone, there are about 82, different product combinations for which you can get a license!

Many IT experts may be quite familiar with the software itself, but not all are well-versed in this many licensing configurations, and errors when obtaining licensing can happen without the correct knowledge. These errors can be very expensive for businesses, whether they are over-licensing too many licenses for the mount of software in use or under-licensing not enough licenses for the amount of Over-Licensing usually happens when companies are afraid of being audited by Microsoft with a SAM Software Asset Management audit, and so they go overboard and end up buying too many licenses for the amount of software and users they really have.

Another problem that many businesses may not know about is the incessant licensing piracy that happens on the Internet from questionable websites that say they sell Microsoft software licensing. These illegitimate websites look a lot like honest sites with professional design, contact information, reviews, and realistic content.

Since these bad sites mimic the good ones so well, it makes it difficult for average users to tell the difference between fraudulent and legitimate sites for Microsoft licensing. Researching licensing websites other than Microsoft itself can be one of the defenses to save yourself frustration and embarrassment. Windows Server Essentials License Windows Server Essentials is the most basic license that allows for up to two concurrent remote connections and only one installation either physical or virtual.

Windows Server Datacenter License Windows Server Datacenter is designed for highly virtualized environments, and offers the most robust features. What are Windows Server Downgrade Rights? What are Windows Server transfer rights? Are you currently in a Microsoft S. User Client Access License UCAL licenses are for specific users to connect to the server where the software is installed, no matter which device they are using to connect to it.

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Windows server 2012 datacenter downgrade rights free

 

However, since the entire Windows Server Essentials Experience is basically just an elaborate. NET application that is installed on top of the Windows Server operating system and not some tightly integrated component of the OS itself , it can quite readily be installed on Windows Server and beyond.

Windows Server is built upon the Windows 10 version platform, and so it stands to reason that any. This certainly holds true for the Windows Server Essentials Experience. To install Windows Server Essentials Experience on Windows Server , all that needs to be done is for you to copy its required files and registry entries from Windows Server over to Windows Server , add its prerequisite server roles and features, create its required services, and then complete its setup process by running the Configure Windows Server Essentials wizard.

And, as you can see from the following screenshots, everything works quite nicely once it has been properly installed and configured. After Windows Server Essentials has been successfully configured, you can then simply open up the server Dashboard as usual and start enjoying all the features of Windows Server Essentials Experience on Windows Server ….

Obviously, doing this will never be sanctioned nor supported by Microsoft, and so you may be asking yourself why not just stick with using Windows Server seeing as it will be fully supported by Microsoft for many years to come? While you certainly can and should do that, probably the best answer I can give you here is… Because you can!

That being said, it would also be good for me to mention that since Windows Server has now reached general availability A. RTM , there will come a time in the not too distant future, when Microsoft will stop selling Windows Server licenses. And so being able to do this will allow those folks who wish to set up a new server with Windows Server Essentials Experience to continue to be able to do so once those Windows Server licenses become hard if not impossible to find.

It will also allow those folks who would like to enjoy the added security, and other benefits, that come along with using Windows Server to be able to continue using Windows Server Essentials Experience client computer backup, Remote Web Access, etc. The installation can be performed by grabbing the install. After doing that, grab all of the required files including the ones in the GAC , extract the required registry entries, and copy them over to Windows Server Then use Server Manager to add the prerequisite server roles and features, create the required services, and use PowerShell to start the initial configuration of Windows Server Essentials.

That should be enough information to get you started, and well on your way to, installing Windows Server Essentials Experience from Windows Server on Windows Server It is ONLY made available to our existing customers. User Name from one of our software products.

Be sure to specify your language preference when requesting download access. The language of the WSEE Installer you use should match the language of the installation media used to install Windows Server onto your server i. Your existing, or newly purchased , license covers the use of the product on Windows Server , , , or vNext. The server may be natively joined to a domain if desired, but make sure that no other server roles, features or applications have been installed.

INFO : You can evaluate the product for up to days , and you can extend the trial period for another full days up to six times for a grand total of 3 years by running the following command from an elevated command prompt:.

INFO : You can run one of the following commands, from an elevated command prompt, in order to convert the evaluation version into a regular retail version Standard or Datacenter using a purchased Product Key:. You can safely ignore this error seeing as it is just a false-positive that is being caused by an issue where the localized names of the required firewall rules are not being properly read from their resource files.

Please contact Product Support. Microsoft has also implemented something called security defaults in Azure Active Directory , and since enforcing the enabling of MFA on all of your user accounts within 14 days is part of this security feature, you will need to disable it as follows:. However, your results may vary. None of this is officially supported by Microsoft nor by us!

You fully assume all risk, responsibility, and liability associated with the installation. And as always, make sure that you have a working backup of your server, and all of your data, before proceeding. Windows Server is leaps-and-bounds faster than Windows Server is it boots up faster, and everything, including the server Dashboard, etc.

Lots of bugs that plague are fixed under Addresses an issue that may cause a new domain certificate to stop working after a day. This issue occurs when you set up the domain using a live account and the virtual private network VPN is configured using the Anywhere Access wizard. The error is, “Error A connection to the remote computer could not be established, so the port used for this communication was closed”. After more connection attempts, the following error appears, “Link to VPN connection failed.

Reconnecting pending The fix consists of only a single updated Windows Server Solutions WSS assembly, which has been bumped up to version Version No more manual tracking and installing updates for you! The config wizard will then recognize the in place upgrade, and configure it accordingly.

Nearly every assembly has been recompiled and re-versioned to I have absolutely no idea why Microsoft did this i. On quick inspection, none of the file sizes appear to have changed, and so they seem to have simply been recompiled with a higher version number. However, during the in place upgrade, Microsoft will forcefully remove all of the Windows Server Essentials assemblies, services, etc.

When you attempt to run the WSEE Installer again, it will refuse to run because another version of the product is already installed. Windows Server that are hard-coded to expire on January 31, i. This resulted in folks not being able to configure a new Microsoft personalized domain name remotewebaccess. Windows Server that are hard-coded to expire on October 31, i.

NOTE: The root cause of the failure is a hard-coded go. We will continue to monitor the issue, and will re-enable the health definition should Microsoft correct the ongoing problem with their fwlink. We will continue to monitor the issue, and will remove the read-only attribute from the files should Microsoft correct the ongoing problem with their fwlink. Therefore, a daily check is made to see if the setting is disabled, and if so, it is automatically re enabled and the health alert is cleared.

Start with a new installation of Windows Server Standard or Datacenter. Resources AlertFramework AlertFramework. Resources AuthLib AuthLib. Compression Microsoft.

WindowsInstaller Microsoft. DirectoryServicesUtility Microsoft. Plugin Microsoft. Interop Microsoft. ObjectModel Microsoft.

AddinInfrastructure Policy. AdminCommon Policy. AlertFramework Policy. AuthLib Policy. CertManaged Policy. Common Policy. CoreProviders Policy.

DevicesOM Policy. MachineIdentityObjectModel Policy. MediaStreamingObjectModel Policy. ObjectModel Policy. NetworkHealthEngine Policy. ProviderFramework Policy. SettingsObjectModel Policy. SKU Policy. SqmProvider Policy. SqmProviderUtilities Policy. StorageOM Policy. StorageResources Policy. UserObjectModel Policy. Web Policy. WssgCommon Policy. HomeAddinContract Policy.

MailServiceCommon Policy. MiscUtil Policy. ProviderFrameworkExtended Policy. HostedEmailBase Policy. HostedEmailObjectModel Policy. PasswordSyncObjectModel Policy.

Framework Policy. Objects Wssg. ServiceManagement Wssg. FileAccess Wssg. Resources Wssg. HostedEmailBase Wssg.

 

Windows server 2012 datacenter downgrade rights free

 
Nov 22,  · I have the same of question. After I setup the Windows server guset OS on the Windows server R2 hyper-V. It seem to work. But on the SCVMM R2. The VM status will show as “unsupported VM configuration”. Should I downgrade to the WIndows server guest OS or upgrade the SCVMM? Thanks! I’d start a new thread detailing your issues. Windows Server® Datacenter,16CORE,FI,No MED,UnLTD VMs,NO CALs, Multi Language Customers who purchase Windows Server operating system have the rights to downgrade to Windows Server and Windows Server R2. No Media Required Purchase select 2 XPS or Alienware laptop or desktop between 7/25 at 6am ET and 9/22 6am . Windows Server Datacenter is designed for highly virtualized environments, and offers the most robust features. What are Windows Server Downgrade Rights? Downgrade rights allow users to purchase the latest version of a particular software licensing, and use it with previous versions of the same software; for example, purchasing a license.

 
 

Dell server, have OEM license, want to upgrade to at no cost – Windows Server

 
 
Downgrade / Down Edition Rights ; Windows Server R2 Datacenter, Windows Server R2, Datacenter ; Windows Server R2 Datacenter. WINDOWS SERVER DATACENTER AND STANDARD EDITIONS. What are my Software Assurance migration rights by Microsoft purchase program? rights. Windows Server R2 Datacenter licenses are available Server R2: • Gen 2 VMs: UEFI based, legacy free devices, SCSI boot, faster de-.