how many number of licensed windows i can run with Single Windows Server 2008R2 Enterprise Edition License. As windows server 2008r2 enterprise edition allow 4 Virtual machines. can i run single windows server 2008r2 enterprise edition license in multiple virtual machines in VMware Environment?Riaz Javed Butt MCITP Enterprise Administrator

Hello Riaz, Do you mean how many the license for Windows instance running as VM on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Enterprise Edition? If so, as far as I know, there allow to run 4 Windows instances as VMs with valid license on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition. Regarding of VMware Environment, I am not sure. For this specific licensing questions, I suggest contacting Microsoft Licensing Center for detailed explanation. http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx For licensing questions, please call 1-800-426-9400 (select option 4), Monday through Friday, 6:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. (PST) to speak directly to a Microsoft licensing specialist. Worldwide customers can use the Guide to Worldwide Microsoft Licensing Sites http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/index/worldwide.asp to find contact information in their locations. Hope it helps. Thanks and Regards Scorpio_Milo MCTS: Windows Vista | Exchange Server 2007 MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician MCITP: Server & Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Infrastructure Consultant Enterprise Service: Solution Architect Microsoft Storage Team - File Cabinet Blog My Blog Contact me

the number of instances is the same, regardless of hypervisor. so if you assign a EE license to a ESX host, you are licensed for 4 running copies (OSE's) I strongly recommend you read http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/C/A/FCAB58A9-CCAD-4E0A-A673-88A5EE74E2CC/Licensing_Microsoft_Server_Products_Virtual_Environments.docx

Hello, this document includes all the requirements if VMWare as host system is used: http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/C/A/FCAB58A9-CCAD-4E0A-A673-88A5EE74E2CC/Windows_Server_2008_Virtual_Tech-VL_Brief-Jan_09.docx In your case page 10 is important: Windows Server Licensing on top of VMware’s ESX If a server is running ESX as the virtualization technology, then Windows Server is not deployed as a host operating system in the physical OSE. However, a license is required for every instance running in a virtual OSE. If you have assigned a single license for Windows Server 2008 Standard to a server running ESX, then you may run one instance of Windows Server 2008 Standard at a time. The right to run an instance of Windows Server 2008 in the physical OSE cannot be used in this case since ESX runs on the physical OSE (and as a result, Windows Server 2008 cannot be deployed as the operating system on the physical OSE.) If you have assigned a single license of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise to the server running ESX, then you may run up to four instances at a time of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. You may not run a fifth instance under the same license since that right requires that the fifth instance be running hardware virtualization software and software managing and servicing the OSEs on the server.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.