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Windows Licensing on KVM
FlorinMarian
Member, Host Rep
in Help
Howdy!
Because I'm a little confused after reading several articles in this regard, I'd like to know what is the legal way I can offer RDP servers without having to sell Windows licenses (I'm especially interested in the legality of the installation of its own ISO by the client and by offering pre-configured templates with Windows Server 2016 that have a 6-month trial).
Thank you!
Comments
Isn't Romania "DMCA ignored" so you can use pirated Windows?
You can use the Trial 180 days without any issues, and you do not need to sell any license if is a trial instance.
Any country other than US should not know DMCA as such. That said, copyright infringement is not legal anywhere I am aware of...
I would not see what is wrong with Bring-your-own-license. Not just the smaller providers, but also AWS supports BYOL. I am sure, if they can do so, everyone can do so.
Not really
Romania has laws as well 
Very naughty, reported to Santa Claus
Start with the 180 days trial and make a script to rearm it every 6 months. It can be extended upto 3 years this way.
Copyright infringement is legal in spain if it's not for generating profit
As a commercial provider, you might want to avoid doing this to reduce the likelihood of MS licensing police coming after you (or targeting you after getting tipped off by a disgruntled work orderer). I reckon it would be seen as facilitating systemic licensing evasion. I'm not saying this from a moral perspective or suggesting that would be your intent - but its very different for a homelab than a company offering commercial services.
Windows Licensing is extremely overcomplicated - for no logical reason.
If I’m not mistaken, to offer Windows licenses for VM’s, you’d need an SPLA agreement with Microsoft . That will allow you to offer licenses, but only on hardware you actually physically own.
If you don’t own the hardware, you might be able to offer Dedi’s but then you have to use Datacenter Edition. Last time I checked, you had to license a minimum of 16 cores as part of a 2-pack and each license was roughly ~$6,000.
I’m a Microsoft Partner, and nothing with M$ is straightforward, simple or cheap. It’s actually becoming increasingly more difficult to offer anything Microsoft makes if it isn’t Azure or subscriptions based.
I read on the SysAdmin sub reddit that you can ignore MS Licensing, but they will go ahead and be more intrusive if there is evidence, so you can delay it. But of course, you could use the 180 day trial if you want.
Who in their right mind would sign up with such a provider.
Don't worry, we won't do that
You can close the topic, we will not provide customers with any Windows image because we would complicate our lives more than we should.
I saw buyvm offering this for free
Free Microsoft® Windows Server™
We include Microsoft® Windows Server™ with all Slice plans at no additional cost. Select from 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 Windows Server™ from within our control panel.
Jesus Christ, 2008 and 2012? That's not a good sign if the next three still supported versions are not.
The BuyVM panel gives you the option of 2016 and 2012, which is slightly better than 2008