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    MS SAM Audit

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Discussion
    auditmicrosoftmicrosoft licensingmicrosoft auditsam auditlicensing
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    • F
      flaxking @scottalanmiller
      last edited by

      @scottalanmiller said in MS Audit???:

      You should always be auditing yourself to know if you are compliant. If you worry that you are not, you want to bring in a licensing expert to help (it's not expensive and very fast.)

      Do you know of a good tool to run to run to detect the Windows licences being used? Something you could use if you walked into a new client that had used multiple different MS licencing channels but didn't properly keep track of things.

      I did see a guide before on a private forum that I no longer have access to that showed off a special tool that could be run that would get all kinds of information of the Windows licence on the system and how to interpret them. So I know it would be possible for something to be out there, or is it best to outsource to an auditing company that already has the tools needed for the job?

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

        @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

        Do you know of a good tool to run to run to detect the Windows licences being used?

        I don't think that there is one. So much of MS licensing isn't technical, it's all on paper. You have to know how things are licensed. A few things like RDS, track their usage. But the big, obvious stuff like desktop licenses and CALs, are impossible to track at the network level and can only be done on paper.

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        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @flaxking
          last edited by

          @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

          I did see a guide before on a private forum that I no longer have access to that showed off a special tool that could be run that would get all kinds of information of the Windows licence on the system and how to interpret them. So I know it would be possible for something to be out there, or is it best to outsource to an auditing company that already has the tools needed for the job?

          Yeah, there are some for grabbing certain kinds of licenses and knowing where they are. But it only tells you what is applied, not what should be or where it came from.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • F
            flaxking @scottalanmiller
            last edited by

            @scottalanmiller said in MS Audit???:

            @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

            Do you know of a good tool to run to run to detect the Windows licences being used?

            I don't think that there is one. So much of MS licensing isn't technical, it's all on paper. You have to know how things are licensed. A few things like RDS, track their usage. But the big, obvious stuff like desktop licenses and CALs, are impossible to track at the network level and can only be done on paper.

            I meant only for the Windows OS licence itself, CALs is a whole different world.

            It looks like slmgr might be able to do what's needed here. I'll have to check how it displays the different licencing channels.

            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • pchiodoP
              pchiodo
              last edited by pchiodo

              Yeah, a SAM audit, not to be confused with a Scott Alan Miller audit, is complete and utter BS. The easiest way to figure this out is to specifically ask them if it is a required audit or voluntary. If it's voluntary, why would you ever do it? There is simply no upside. The only time I would be concerned is if BSA contacted me. Then I would go to a CDW or a PC Connection for a licensing expert. Plus, in every case of the BSA getting involved, your company attorney(s) should be called in.

              At the end of the day, those companies who are really violating licensing know they are doing it, and should not be surprise when BSA comes knocking. This is things like installing a retail Office on 30 computers, or using one server license across a whole server stack.

              If you are working with a good reputable reseller, and are doing your best to be compliant, you will likely never have a problem.

              F scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • F
                flaxking @pchiodo
                last edited by

                @pchiodo said in MS Audit???:

                Yeah, a SAM audit, not to be confused with a Scott Alan Miller audit, is complete and utter BS. The easiest way to figure this out is to specifically ask them if it is a required audit or voluntary. If it's voluntary, why would you ever do it? There is simply no upside. The only time I would be concerned is if BSA contacted me. Then I would go to a CDW or a PC Connection for a licensing expert. Plus, in every case of the BSA getting involved, your company attorney(s) should be called in.

                At the end of the day, those companies who are really violating licensing know they are doing it, and should not be surprise when BSA comes knocking. This is things like installing a retail Office on 30 computers, or using one server license across a whole server stack.

                If you are working with a good reputable reseller, and are doing your best to be compliant, you will likely never have a problem.

                I wouldn't trust your reseller on being the licencing expert. I've talked to a CDW 'licencing expert' before and know first hand that they are only experts in comparison to your account manager

                scottalanmillerS pchiodoP 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller @flaxking
                  last edited by

                  @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

                  I meant only for the Windows OS licence itself, CALs is a whole different world.

                  Yeah, you can definitely find ways to poll those.

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

                    @pchiodo said in MS Audit???:

                    Plus, in every case of the BSA getting involved, your company attorney(s) should be called in.

                    This is important. A true audit is a pure legal matter and while IT needs to be involved, it's about attorneys, not techs. It's not a casual thing and requires Microsoft to pull a contract out and go down a path that would be insanely dangerous for anyone except corporate counsel to coordinate and all responses would go back through the attorney.

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                    • scottalanmillerS
                      scottalanmiller @flaxking
                      last edited by

                      @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

                      I wouldn't trust your reseller on being the licencing expert. I've talked to a CDW 'licencing expert' before and know first hand that they are only experts in comparison to your account manager

                      I agree, they are normally just casually aware sales people. At the end of the day, either study up or bring in paid consultants. Your reseller can assist a little, but they have very little insight and unless they offer indemnification, they can't help. Although, ask your lawyer, as MS doesn't sell direct and forces you to use a reseller, in some jurisdictions you may be able to use a fraud defense against MS.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • F
                        flaxking @scottalanmiller
                        last edited by

                        @scottalanmiller said in MS Audit???:

                        @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

                        I meant only for the Windows OS licence itself, CALs is a whole different world.

                        Yeah, you can definitely find ways to poll those.

                        Unfortunately slmgr doesn't seem to be able to detect if it's using a product key from a Visual Studio subscription. But maybe we just have to use some logic.

                        i.e. says it's Retail, but we don't have any Retail licences purchases so it must be a VS licence. Or it's MAK but doesn't match our recorded MAK

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

                          @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

                          Unfortunately slmgr doesn't seem to be able to detect if it's using a product key from a Visual Studio subscription. But maybe we just have to use some logic.

                          That's one of the toughest things is all of the many ways that something can be licensed. Each scheme is so different, it can be very had for a tool to monitor all regime options.

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                          • pchiodoP
                            pchiodo @flaxking
                            last edited by

                            @flaxking said in MS Audit???:

                            I wouldn't trust your reseller on being the licencing expert. I've talked to a CDW 'licencing expert' before and know first hand that they are only experts in comparison to your account manager

                            Absolutely true. Although in most cases, they'll generally keep you in compliance and you'll never hear from MS or BSA.

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                            • wrx7mW
                              wrx7m
                              last edited by

                              afd268ec-b646-4fe4-9335-023009ebfb5f-image.png
                              Good thing I have been ignoring these jerks. They have even called me.

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                              • M
                                marcinozga
                                last edited by

                                I got few emails from them too, it says somewhere that these audits are voluntary so I basically told them to pound sand and never to call me again. They did about a year later, and they got the same replay. I actually told them they'd have to pay me $300/h to do the audit, I won't do their work for free.

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

                                  @marcinozga said in MS Audit???:

                                  I actually told them they'd have to pay me $300/h to do the audit, I won't do their work for free.

                                  Yup, that's totally an option.

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                                  • S
                                    smartkid808
                                    last edited by

                                    I had it once, and thought the same thing, mandatory. But, even if I knew it was voluntary, I probably still would have done it anyway to force the company I worked for to get compliant (and upgrade a bunch of old dyeing PCs). So for me the self audit helped 🙂 lol.

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                                    • scottalanmillerS
                                      scottalanmiller @smartkid808
                                      last edited by

                                      @smartkid808 said in MS Audit???:

                                      I probably still would have done it anyway to force the company I worked for to get compliant (and upgrade a bunch of old dyeing PCs).

                                      It can be nice for that. But you could just fake the audit and do it accurately if you want.

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                                      • S
                                        smartkid808
                                        last edited by

                                        @scottalanmiller said in MS Audit???:

                                        It can be nice for that. But you could just fake the audit and do it accurately if you want.

                                        True, but it helped to have backing proof of the audit saying we where out of compliance to scare the owner..lol
                                        Nice to know we can refuse it tho. lol.

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                                        • scottalanmillerS
                                          scottalanmiller @smartkid808
                                          last edited by

                                          @smartkid808 said in MS Audit???:

                                          True, but it helped to have backing proof of the audit saying we where out of compliance to scare the owner

                                          The problem is is that it's not an accurate audit so once it's fake, you can just fake whatever you want.

                                          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • S
                                            smartkid808 @scottalanmiller
                                            last edited by

                                            @scottalanmiller true, and even add some wish list stuff ^_^ hahahah

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