I have been setting up a physical server for testing an app using remote desktop. So far, everything looks good and we will soon be moving to a licensed server running hyper-v (Server 2008 R2 Enterprise). Can I create a vxd file and move it into the virtual environment and will it "automatically" pick up the fact that it is now in a licensed state ? Not talking about RD service cals, I know I will need to buy those.

Hello, You can consider using P2V to get from a physical server to a virtual one. For Hyper-V questions, ask them here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/threads This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Designing and Providing Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer

I was asking more about the licensing issue rather than the technical one. Is there a licensing forum ? Thanks

Hi Dave, I'm assuming you're talking about the Windows Server licensing rather than the application's? The only reason you'd have to think about the Windows Server licensing is if you were using either a retail or MAK key (i.e. if your available activation count is getting extremely low). If you're on a KMS structure then there's no issues to plan around. In the retail or MAK case, if you're looking to transfer a licence, you can do that over the phone with Microsoft. In specific relation to the question about moving from physical to virtual, because there's a fundamental change in the underlying "hardware", the server will require reactivation, which in turn brings you to thinking about some of the points above. If you're in the KMS or MAK (with enough activations left, of course) camps, then you can sort out any activation requirements with slmgr.vbs - which is native to Windows Server 2008 / Windows Vista and later. Cheers, Lain

Hello, For technical questions about how to convert a Physical system to a hyper-v virtual machine (VM), please post in Hyper-V sub-forum. Then, regarding your second question about the license state of the VM, as I remember, you can run 4 VMs per Enterprise license for 2008 R2. If my understanding is correct, I assume this means one for the host (2008R2) and the rest for VMs running on the host. I recommend you contact a Microsoft License specialist for an accurate answer. http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx Thanks Zhang

Why don't you try it? From a technical perspective I see no reason it would not work. In general, most MS products are not self-aware from a licensing state. This is particularly true in virtual environments. Licenses are never assigned to virtual machines. They are always assigned to physical machines. So when you do a P2V conversion and then move the VXD to a different machine, you are technically moving the license from one physical machine to another. That it applies to a VM is immaterial. One of the lesser-known rules about Microsoft server licensing is that you only need to license running servers. So if you create a VXD and turn off the physical machine, you have no new licensing exposure. You would "reassign" the license to whatever physical machine you are running the VXD on (subject to Microsoft's rule about reassignment not happening in less than 90 days). A couple of suggestions for others looking at this. 1. Do this kind of development with software licensed via a TechNet subscription. It's cheap, more flexible, and designed specifically for this kind of testing and integration scenario. You don't need to buy a commercial license for it until you put it into production, and then it's good enough to purchase a license (if needed; it may not be needed in some cases, such as virtual hosts licensed with Windows Datacenter) without rebuilding it. 2. For testing of this type, start out with a virtual machine. Windows Standard lets you install the OS in either a physical or virtual environment. You can also do both: one Win Standard license lets you run both a physical and virtual machine with a single license as long as the physical machine is used only to run the VM. By using the license for a VM you give yourself a lot of flexibility. If you have a hardware problem, for example, you don't lose your work (as long as the VXD is backed up somewhere). Also, if it's the only VM running on the physical server it has access to the full physical resources (e.g., all the procs and memory) of the machine and you'll take only a small performance penalty. Besides which, if your goal is to run it as a VM anyway, this will be the best-case performance scenario. If you're not happy with performance when it's the only workload on the server, you won't be happy when it's one of many workloads on the server. Paul DeGrootPaul DeGroot Principal Consultant Pica Communications "Solving the Microsoft Licensing Puzzle"

Makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much.