So when a VM is moved, the Windows Server license assigned to the source server does not move and is not reassigned. The most fundamental thing to keep in mind is that Windows Server licenses are assigned to physical servers, not to virtual machines. In addition, we are working with our OEM partners to help them offer server hardware pre-installed and pre-configured with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials running as a virtual machine.Ī related licensing question that is often asked when virtual instances of Windows Server are used is around license assignment, especially in the case where you are using either the Live Migration or Hyper‑V Replica feature to move VMs from one Hyper-V host to another. Previous versions of Windows Server Essentials (and Windows Small Business Server before that), made it necessary to obtain a hypervisor separately, such as the Microsoft Hyper-V Server, but that is no longer required.
#Microsoft windows server 2012 r2 standard license install
The Hyper-V role and Hyper-V Manager console are now included with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials! The server licensing rights have been expanded, allowing you to install an instance of Essentials on your physical server to run the Hyper-V role (with none of the other roles and features of the Essentials Experience installed), and a second instance of Essentials as a virtual machine (VM) on that same server with all the Essentials Experience roles and features. In this article, I’ll explain a licensing change that has been made to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials as well as some related licensing topics when using the new Windows Server Essentials Experience role with the Standard and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2012 R2. First published on TechNet on Sep 03, 2013