PowerEdge: Virtualization rights for Windows Server Standard and Datacenter editions

The Windows Server operating system (OS) license has included virtualization rights since Windows Server 2008. These virtualization rights allow the licensed OS to host several virtual machines (VMs) running Windows Server without requiring additional OS licenses for each VM. The number of VMs allowed depends on the edition of Windows Server that has been licensed:

Windows Server Standard Edition: 2 VMs
Windows Server Datacenter Edition: Unlimited VMs

Regardless of the edition, virtualization rights require that the host server be fully licensed. The supported versions of Windows Server use two different licensing models:

Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 are licensed on a per-processor basis. It is necessary to purchase enough OS licenses to cover every physical processor in the server. Each license covers up to two physical processors, so a server with four physical processors would require two Windows Server 2012 R2 licenses.

Windows Server 2016 and later are licensed on a per-core basis. It is necessary to purchase enough OS licenses to cover every physical processor core in the server. Core licenses are sold in 2-core and 16-core packs. A minimum of 16 cores must be licensed on a server, even if the server has fewer than 16 physical processor cores. As an example, a server which has 64 processor cores and runs Windows Server 2019 would require four 16-core license packs. This is the simplest option, but other combination of 16-core and 2-core license packs also suffice, if the total equals at least 64.

When the server is fully licensed, the virtualization rights take effect.

With a Datacenter license, a licensed server can host unlimited Windows Server VMs with no additional licenses required. There are still technical limitations on how many VMs can run on a single server.

With a Standard license, a licensed server can host two Windows Server VMs with no additional licenses required. If more than two VMs are needed, additional Standard licenses can be purchased for the same server. Another two VMs may be hosted on the server each time enough licenses are purchased to cover all physical processors or processor cores. For example, a 32-core server running the Standard edition of Windows Server 2022 and hosting six Windows Server VMs would require six 16-core Windows Server 2022 Standard license packs (96 = 32 * 3 = 16 * 6).

Regardless of the number of licenses purchased with a server, there is only one Windows Server product key for use when activating the OS. If the VMs are running the same OS version and edition as the host, that key can activate the host OS and the VMs.

If Windows Server is purchased with a server but is not used as the primary operating system (for example, if the server runs VMware ESXi but Windows Server is purchased as a secondary OS), the above virtualization rights still apply.