What are good alternatives to CDW for Office LTSC licensing?
I'm trying to purchase a small number of Microsoft Office LTSC licenses, but CDW has ignored my emails and calls since April. I haven't even been able to…
Microsoft licensing
Should we buy Microsoft 365 Business Premium directly or through a reseller?
We currently purchase our Microsoft 365 licenses directly from Microsoft, and the process has been simple. We're preparing to move to Business Premium and have received a quote…
Should we buy Microsoft 365 Business Premium directly or through a reseller?
We currently purchase our Microsoft 365 licenses directly from Microsoft, and the process has been simple. We are preparing to move to Business Premium and received a quote…
How Should We License Around 300 Windows 11 RPA Virtual Machines?
We have roughly 300 virtual machines running Windows 11 for unattended RPA jobs. Each machine runs a configured automation script that interacts with software through the user interface,…
How Can I Speed Up Offline Activation for 80 Windows LTSC Clients?
I'm a sysadmin at a factory where production-floor computers run Windows IoT Enterprise LTSC. We're upgrading roughly 80 offline clients from Windows 10 2016 LTSB to 21H2 LTSC,…
How Can I Speed Up Offline Activation for Dozens of Windows IoT Clients?
I'm a sysadmin at a large factory where production-floor computers run Windows IoT Enterprise LTSC. We're upgrading roughly 80 offline clients from Windows 10 2016 LTSB to 21H2…
Do Windows Server CALs apply when using Azure Hybrid Benefit for Azure-only VMs?
We have eight Windows Server VMs running entirely in Azure and no on-premises servers. They currently use pay-as-you-go licensing, but we plan to apply Azure Hybrid Benefit with…
Do Windows clients need CALs when using Samba for Active Directory?
If Active Directory-compatible services are hosted on Samba rather than Windows Server, do Windows client machines or users still need Microsoft CALs to connect? The environment has no…
Do I need Windows Server CALs when using Azure Hybrid Benefit?
We run eight Windows Server virtual machines entirely in Azure, with no on-premises servers. The environment includes a domain controller, SQL Server, file server, and application servers. Employees…
Looking for a Reliable Microsoft CSP for About 150 Users
Our current Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider gives us about a 10% discount compared with buying directly from Microsoft, which has worked well financially. The relationship was also strong…
Is My VAR Handling Windows Server Downgrade Keys Poorly?
I manage IT for a small organization and have been handling our Microsoft licensing and virtualization environment for many years. We recently moved from a two-host VMware Essentials…
How can I properly license a Windows Server 2025 session host in Azure Virtual Desktop without AD DS?
We have a small Azure Virtual Desktop deployment for four concurrent users, using one Windows Server 2025 Datacenter session host. The environment is Entra-joined only, with no on-premises…
How can I properly license Windows Server 2025 RDP sessions in an Entra-only AVD setup?
We have a small Azure Virtual Desktop deployment for four concurrent users: one session host running Windows Server 2025 Datacenter. The host is joined only to Microsoft Entra…
How should Windows Server licenses be handled when moving VMs from ESXi to Proxmox?
We are decommissioning our ESXi hosts and plan to migrate several Windows Server 2019 Standard virtual machines to a new Proxmox environment. The licenses were obtained through TechSoup…
Which users actually need Entra ID P1 after AIP P1 retires?
We're a small company with fewer than 20 users and currently have around five AIP P1 licenses. Our main environment is Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Intune, without…
How can I obtain or convert Windows Server 2019 Datacenter media for an Azure VM?
I have an Azure VM that requires Windows Server 2019 Datacenter installation media, but my licensing is managed through Azure. The evaluation setup disk does not work for…
Why is the Cost of Windows Server Licensing So Varied?
I'm in the process of setting up some new servers and noticed that a 16 core Datacenter license typically runs about $5,000 from most OEMs. However, I stumbled…
Is the Business Premium + E5 Security Add-On a Better Deal Than M365 E3 + EMS-E5 + MDE P2?
Hey there, I'm hoping to get some insights from anyone versed in Microsoft licensing. Right now, I'm using Microsoft M365 E3 along with EMS-E5 and MDE P2. Recently,…
Can I Split RDS User CALs Across Multiple Servers?
I'm hoping to get some clarity on splitting Remote Desktop User CALs across three different servers. I recently bought 50 User CALs through a CSP for the first…