Windows Licensing

dhruvsahni on 03/09/2013 - 15:25

Hi People,

Can someone explain about volume licensing for Microsoft products. We are using it for a while and today we got to know that that if people are RDPing to your network from home using their laptops than they need to be license for all the products they use.

Scenario 1
I access my ofice PC from home using RDP and use VISIO , Projects and pretty much entire Office suite. Do I need to have the same license on my home laptop ? and what all license do we need.

Really confused about the whole thing , can someone just guide me through with simple plain english.

Thanks,
DS

General Discussion

Comments

  • _Bruce_ on 03/09/2013 - 15:49

    I am not too familiar with MS specifically but generally your RDP client doesn't need any licences at all. The RDP server will need:

    • Licences for any software running (for the number of users that can run it at the same time)
    • Licences that specifically allow remote use

    The second point is legally iffy, but many companies licence this differently (like how MS thinks a VM needs a different licence to a PC).

    Sorry this doesn't really answer your question, but might help you get started.

  • p1 ama on 03/09/2013 - 22:57

    Well, you'll have to read through the EULA and find out, even then it's a legal issue, not a technical/computer issue. The truth is it works though, so you might as well use it, that's what I'd do anyway.

  • whitty on 04/09/2013 - 07:46

    Don't take this as gospel but I'm pretty sure if you're just using RDP to connect to your desktop running Win7 (or XP) then you're fine but when using RDP for multiple people logging onto the same machine at the same time like is often done with windows server then you would need licensing for each remote client plus licensing for all the software as well.

    By default windows 7 and XP will only allow one user to login at a time so if you login remotely the local user's session is locked, but there is a way with xp at least to allow multiple logins (against the EULA though). The licensing in windows server isn't the same for all versions either.

  • dhruvsahni on 04/09/2013 - 08:16

    Thank you all. But am still trying to get my head around the whole thing cause Microsoft website is confusing.

    Anyone familiar with below in depth cause its so contradicting -

    http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/briefs/re…

    Licensing of Microsoft Desktop Application Software for Use with Windows Server Remote Desktop Services

    • _Bruce_ on 04/09/2013 - 08:44

      Anyone familiar with below in depth cause its so contradicting

      How is it contradicting? Looks like it spells out all the possible combinations (and terrible terms from MS).

  • dhruvsahni on 04/09/2013 - 09:36

    Bruce can you explain than how many licenses is required if someone is RDPing to his own machine from home and from work. Also considering that I will be using office suite along with Vision and Projects

    • _Bruce_ on 04/09/2013 - 09:49

      Why don't you just ask MS if you can't follow the document? Or hire IT services it sound like you need.

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