Microsoft only sell Windows upgrades under volume licensing. True or False

[edutech4schools]

I have just been told that Microsoft only sell Windows 7 upgrades under volume licensing and not a full standalone version by our supplier.

 

Is that info correct?

[riffleman]

I'm afraid that this appears to be true. Pugh only has upgrade licenses listed on their site and the Select pricing list on has upgrade licenses for volume licenses. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional | Microsoft | Products | ... discounted software for education establishments

[FN-GM]

Thats always been the case since i can remeber. Same with 2000, XP, Vista etc

 

Windows in Volume licencing you need a "base" os licence on each PC such as Windows XP Home OEM then you upgrade using the volume licence software.

 

The software they provide doesnt need to have an old OS installed. You can boot from the disc and start a fresh. But for licencing you need a base licence.

Edited March 24, 2011 by FN-GM

[cromertech]

Does anyone know if this is still true with new new licensing model for schools

[sparkeh]

This is a helpful read: clicky

Windows 7

It is available as an upgrade license through Volume Licensing.

[localzuk]

Does anyone know if this is still true with new new licensing model for schools

 

Yes, the rule is and always has been 'you need a license of some form on your machine before being able to make use of your volume license upgrades'. So, OEM home licenses for example are fine.

[edutech4schools]

Can I do an upgrade and create an image for deployment onto other machines if I have enough upgrade licences or does the original licence have to be unique for each upgrade?

[riffleman]

Each machine that you deploy that image to must have it's own Windows license. It can be any Windows license, but you have to have it to be able to apply the upgrade to the machine it is installed on.

 

E.g, I have 15 machines each with NT4 license, and 15 with XP, I can apply a Windows 7 upgrade to those 30 machines from a single image, assuming I have 30 upgrade licenses. Even if I have more upgrade licences i can only upgrade the 30 I have with previous versions of Windows.

[edutech4schools]

So as long as I have the original licence and an upgrade licence for all machines that will receive the image I can use a single image with all my software on. I was getting worried I would have to upgrade each machine separately and then install all the software for each machine.

[riffleman]

Yes that's correct. Just remember to sysprep before creating your image, or you might have some issues when you try to deploy the image. And make sure the image contains all the drivers for the various components in each machine you're deploying to if they're different.