Hyper-V Licensing Question

And what is a retail key?

Single use MAK key (activates once against MS servers only)

sebus

 

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MAK and retail are different - MAK's have a fixed count (set when issued) and are throw away once used up - new key issued.

Retail does not have a fixed count and never expires - can be phone activated if online activation count is too high within a set time limit.

 

Hi Threat, you can always activate MAK keys online against the M$ servers or by phone. Online activation
works only as long as the actual count is not zero. If it's zero, M$ allows some further phone activations...


Inge

 

I know - my point was the MAK keys count down until 0 remaining then deceased forever.

Retail down have a fixed count - if it's not been used in a long time they assume reinstall and allow. If it's been used frequent they block and you phone up.

 

Sorry sebus, but this is BS. Retail users sign the retail End-user license
agreement while Volume (MAK) users sign the Volume EULA if they agree.

MAK != RETAIL

 

And emulator users sign what? (sorry, could not stop myself...)

 

As we all know pratha_SCAMMER_prabhu signed for brig

But you should really ask Microsoft. I'm sure they answer your question more detailed.

 

pratha_SCAMMER_prabhu_PREMIUM - you need to pay if you want to download his files from FileParadox.

 

Yes, some ppl. paid a few cent for an account and got most of his legit files. This files are still around

 

They sign a deal selling there soul to the devil

 

DreamSpark license (not talking about product key here) allows you to install and use the product on TWO machines at the same time.

DreamSpark product keys are retail keys, and allow activation on at least two (and probably more) machines. The exact limitations of a retail key are unknown.

 

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I stand corrected about the key types. I only ever checked recent keys (WS 2012 etc.), which are indeed retail keys as others pointed out.

Note that there is no such thing as a license associated with a key type. Although it's true that typically MAK keys are given under VL and retail keys are given under retail licenses, this does not make the key type imply a specific license.

Your legal rights are not controlled by the key type or the activation technology used. Your rights are controlled by the EULA you accept. DreamSpark has its own EULA, which you can read by clicking the appropriate link on the download page for each product. This EULA supersedes anything that might be displayed on your screen when you install the product.

Among other things, the DreamSpark EULA restricts your use of the products for educational and research purposes, and expressly prohibits your use of the products in any commercial scenario. For example, you can't use a DreamSpark product key to run your business' internal server. This is clearly different from a retail license. This restriction applies even if the type of the product key shows up as "retail" in a tool.

In conclusion: your rights are controlled by the specific EULA you accept, which in the case of DreamSpark is neither a retail license nor a volume license. Your rights are not controlled by the type of key you receive.

 

Just to be completely accurate:

"MAK" is not a type of license, it's an activation technology. VL is a type of license.

Technically, you don't sell the product key. Instead you sell your rights under a specific license. When someone is talking about "selling a product key", what they are really talking about is transferring the license rights.

Usually rights under a volume license are not transferable, whereas rights under a retail license are. There are exceptions, to make life complicated, and let's not even get started on OEM licenses.

 

Coming back to the woes of the OP:

It is indeed a good question what to do with your VMs if you have a single retail product key for Server 2012, for example from DreamSpark.

What I would do is use the same version and edition of Windows on both the host and all the VMs running inside it. I would use the same single retail key for activating all of them. This will work up to a few VMs. So if you have a Server 2012 Datacenter key, install Datacenter edition on the host and in all the VMs.

Although eventually the retail key will stop activating online, you are not actually breaking your license rights, so you can always activate over the phone and/or argue with a MS representative over the phone.

 

Just to complete: If someone is running the VM's on a licensed 2012 R2 Datacenter host, it's also possible to use the AVMA keys