Microsoft Licensing Primer
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Sounds like most large businesses will just pay for upgrade rights, probably cheaper on a machine by machine basis. And way easier to track.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
@scottalanmiller I don't think there is a free upgrade path to 8.1 only directly to 10
How would that help his situation then? Once he has the upgrade rights, just jump to 10. I must be missing something.
I may be missing something, but there is a free path from 7 to 10 as well. Just if you are wanting to take advantage of the free upgrade and have imaging rights you have to manually do the upgrade from 7 to 10 before you are allowed to image.
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Does that free path include going to each intermediate version?
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@scottalanmiller No, i went straight from 7 to 10 on my desktop
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@scottalanmiller No, i went straight from 7 to 10 on my desktop
Hmmmm... we'll need @Dashrender to explain what is his sticking point in the upgrade process.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
@scottalanmiller No, i went straight from 7 to 10 on my desktop
Hmmmm... we'll need @Dashrender to explain what is his sticking point in the upgrade process.
I think his sticking point is he has to manually go to each machine initially to upgrade them.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
@scottalanmiller No, i went straight from 7 to 10 on my desktop
Hmmmm... we'll need @Dashrender to explain what is his sticking point in the upgrade process.
I think his sticking point is he has to manually go to each machine initially to upgrade them.
Yeah, but he was talking about having to go through each version 7 - 8 - 8.1 to get to 10 .
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@Dashrender said:
Yeah, this is my current problem... I'm going to have to manually upgrade all of my win7 and win 8 to win 10... Then use my VL to roll images... What a pain!
I think he just has pcs on both win 7 & 8, not that he has to go through each version.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@Dashrender said:
Yeah, this is my current problem... I'm going to have to manually upgrade all of my win7 and win 8 to win 10... Then use my VL to roll images... What a pain!
I think he just has pcs on both win 7 & 8, not that he has to go through each version.
Oh okay.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
I remember a SW thread where Chris from Microsoft addressed this, and to upgrade your machines to 10 and image them, you have to manually run the update to 10, then go back and re-image.
To get the free upgrade, you mean? Since there is a free 8.1 -> 10 path, I could see that. Is there something similar to get from 7 -> 8?
It was my understanding that the free upgrade to Windows 10 did not include Enterprise. The upgrade to Enterprise still requires a VL agreement, so in that regard, nothing changed with the release of 10.
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@AVI-NetworkGuy Yea, you can't upgrade enterprise version, only professional
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@brianlittlejohn and home as well. Just to be thorough.
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@AVI-NetworkGuy said:
It was my understanding that the free upgrade to Windows 10 did not include Enterprise. The upgrade to Enterprise still requires a VL agreement, so in that regard, nothing changed with the release of 10.
Mostly companies that run Enterprise also do so under an EA and negotiate those upgrades anyway.
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You can't do a clean install of 10. You have to upgrade to 10 manually first for it to register the machine. THEN you can do a clean install using the key they give you.
Perhaps that is what he means?
THOUGH ... if a am technically allowed to run Windows 10, and get a VL key for 1 (buying 1 Windows 10 Upgrade VL), could I just go that route? Or is that what you are saying?
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@BRRABill said:
THOUGH ... if a am technically allowed to run Windows 10, and get a VL key for 1 (buying 1 Windows 10 Upgrade VL), could I just go that route? Or is that what you are saying?
That is not one that I know the answer to. If you could have manually upgraded and you have the reimaing rights, does that cover you? I believe that the consensus is "no", but I am not sure myself of the source of that information.
That might be a @chris question.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@BRRABill said:
THOUGH ... if a am technically allowed to run Windows 10, and get a VL key for 1 (buying 1 Windows 10 Upgrade VL), could I just go that route? Or is that what you are saying?
That is not one that I know the answer to. If you could have manually upgraded and you have the reimaing rights, does that cover you? I believe that the consensus is "no", but I am not sure myself of the source of that information.
That might be a @chris question.
You have reimaging rights with Windows 10 Pro, but your devices need to be licensed with Windows 10 Pro first before you use your Windows 10 Pro VL media/key as part of the free upgrade offer to Windows 10. The exception is for qualifying VL agreement customers. Select, EA and MPSA customers can skip the upgrade install step and go straight to using their VL media and keys to upgrade.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
@Dashrender said:
Yeah, this is my current problem... I'm going to have to manually upgrade all of my win7 and win 8 to win 10... Then use my VL to roll images... What a pain!
I think he just has pcs on both win 7 & 8, not that he has to go through each version.
Oh okay.
Exactly - I have both Windows 7 machines and Windows 8.1 machines. I have to upgrade them individually from what they have directly to Windows 10 so they are assigned the Windows 10 license. Then, and only then can I blow them away and deploy my Win 10 VL image to them.
@Chris glad to know I am on the right track.
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My whole point for bringing up Software Assurance was for the savings on a single purchase vs the upgrade license. SA for an OEM licensed machine purchased within the past 90 days is cheaper than buying an VL Upgrade, Plus you'd be granted access to the new VL media during your term.
It was never my intention to imply that the OP should purchase SA for everything, as @Jason said, unless you're planning on keeping everything current on old hardware (rare), SA would be pretty pointless.
That said - I do personally believe in SA for the server side.
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@Dashrender said:
My whole point for bringing up Software Assurance was for the savings on a single purchase vs the upgrade license. SA for an OEM licensed machine purchased within the past 90 days is cheaper than buying an VL Upgrade, Plus you'd be granted access to the new VL media during your term.
How is it cheaper over the long term? You have to keep paying for SA. You buy a VL once.
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@JaredBusch said:
How is it cheaper over the long term? You have to keep paying for SA. You buy a VL once.
Maybe my understanding is wrong then.
Hopefully @Chris will throw his two cents in.
It's my understanding that anything that becomes available via SA is yours to continue using even after your SA expires.
So if you get Windows 10 VL during your subscription, you can continue to use it after it SA is over - you just don't get any new versions.
