#Volume licensing microsoft transfer pc upgrade#
#Volume licensing microsoft transfer pc software#

Instead, the device simply needs to have a qualifying OS, which in the case of a Windows 7 upgrade includes any business OS back to Windows 98, as well as the Macintosh OS.Д«efore we tackle the question of what it all means in practice, we should try to resolve one ambiguity: what's a вЂњreplacement deviceвЂќ? The requirement that the replacement device have the latest edition of the OS has been removed. Customers who purchase SA through any volume licensing program can reassign it to a replacement device. The right to re-assign SA from one device to a replacement device is no longer limited to Select and Enterprise Agreement customers. Although each new edition of the PUR has a list of changes in the document since the last release, this particular change was not noted in the July 2011 list of changes, but comparing the 2011 July and March PURs clearly shows the change. However, in the July edition of Microsoft's Product Use Rights (PUR) document, which is updated quarterly, Microsoft quietly slipped in some changes. For example, a customer who transfers SA to a replacement computer just before Microsoft releases an upgrade could upgrade the replacement device, as long as they had continued to pay 29% of the license price (which works out to about $30-$55, depending on the customer's agreement) every year to maintain SA rights. However, if the timing was right, customers might occasionally benefit. The main benefit of SA is an OS upgrade, so insisting that the replacement already have the latest version of the OS meant that transferring SA to a different computer didn't gain the customer any immediate upgrade rights. This was not a particularly generous concession. Any upgrades on the original device that were installed as a result of the SA coverage had to be removed before SA could be assigned to a different computer. However, customers with Select and Enterprise volume agreements could reassign SA to a вЂњreplacement device,вЂќ as long as that device was already running the latest edition of the OS.

#Volume licensing microsoft transfer pc software#

In general, the Windows desktop OS and Software Assurance (SA), Microsoft's upgrade and maintenance add-on, are tied to the computer on which the OS is originally installed and SA can only be added to a license at the time of purchase. While the change enables only a narrow set of new licensing options, it appears to illustrate how longstanding rules for desktop software may have to change as Microsoft tries to drive more customers to the cloud.

Unannounced changes to Microsoft's rules on transferring Software Assurance illustrate how cloud licensing requirements are having an impact on traditional on-premise products.ДЄn recent stealth change to Microsoft licensing rules appears to give volume licensing customers more flexibility in assigning Software Assurance to Windows PCs.