Limitation of virtual machine (Hyper-V) on Windows 8
We can install 2 vm on windows server 2012 enterprise edition and unlimited vm on windows server 2012 datacenter. What about windows 8?
October 14th, 2012 7:53pm

There are no technical restrictions on the number of VMs that Windows Server 2012 Standard can host.  What you are referring to is the number of included or "free" instances of Windows Server 2012 that may be installed without providing an additional Windows license.

For Windows 2012 Standard (there is no enterprise version of 2012), you are allowed 2 "free" instances of VMs with a Windows Server OS on that host. You are free to have as many virtual machines as you want, but you will need to provide the appropriate licenses for each Windows based VM you install.  For example, if you install Windows Server 2012 Standard, you can install 2 more Windows Server VMs without needing to purchase a server license.  If you want to install a third Windows Server 2012, you would need to purchase or provide another license,  as well as the fourth, fifth, etc. 

For Windows 2012 Datacenter, you are allowed unlimited "free" instances of VMs with a Windows Server OS on that host.

Windows 8 offers no "free" OS instances. For each Windows OS based VM you install, you need to provide and assign that Windows license to that particular VM.

The only real "limit" is the amount of RAM for running VMs and/or disk space for installing OSes.

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October 15th, 2012 12:24am

Thank you...
October 15th, 2012 2:15pm

I have 8GB RAM in my machine. I tried creating a VM in Windows 8. While specifying RAM required, it did not allow me to go beyond 5718 MB. What is this restriction? Is it a hard-limit for each VM or is it based on some formula?
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November 26th, 2012 10:11am

You can't assign more the amount of free memory.  Something on your system is reserving the memory and not allowing it to be used.

November 27th, 2012 3:49am

"Windows 8 offers no "free" OS instances. For each Windows OS based VM you install, you need to provide and assign that Windows license to that particular VM."

Actually, licenses are assigned to physical machines, not virtual machines. 

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November 30th, 2012 8:50pm

"Windows 8 offers no "free" OS instances. For each Windows OS based VM you install, you need to provide and assign that Windows license to that particular VM."

Actually, licenses are assigned to physical machines, not virtual machines.&n

December 12th, 2012 8:38am

Licenses are assigned to the physical machine, and virtualization rights are assigned according to the license assigned.  So if you are running Windows 8, you can assign a Windows Server 2012 Standard license to the physical machine (nothing is 'installed'; it's simply a matter of keeping track that that license is assigned to that physical machine).  The Windows Server 2012 Standard license grants you the right to run up to two Windows Server Standard virtual operating system environments (VOSE) simultaneously.  There is no limit to the number of VMs you can create.  The license is for the number of simultaneously running VOSE.

The activation key is not a license key.  The activation key is simply used to activate an instance of the operating system.

If you want to run a down-level version of the client operating system, you will need another license.  Again, the license is assigned to the physical machine.  If you upgraded from XP or Windows 7, you are still using the 'original' license; it is in an upgraded state now.  The client license gives you the right to run a single instance of the operating system.  To run a second instance of the client OS, you would need another license and assign it to the same physical machine.  (Caution:  I have not dealt with client licensing as much as server licensing).

In all licensing question cases, it is highly recommended that you contact your Microsoft licensing specialist to get the proper answers.  Answers found on TechNet forums is generally based on opinion and experience, but it is not legal advice.  Go to www.microsoft.com/licensing to find a local, toll-free number to call to talk with a licensing specialist.

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December 12th, 2012 5:47pm

"Windows 8 offers no "free" OS instances. For each Windows OS based VM you install, you need to provide and assign that Windows license to that particular VM."

Actually, licenses are assigned to physical machines, not virtual machines.&n

December 12th, 2012 6:23pm

how many vm can Hyper V host? Hyper -V has no cluster function?

If we need 400 VM machines on hyper V, it is counted by MS OS license ?

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August 7th, 2013 5:33pm

the number of VMs that can be hosted depends on the specs of the physical machine.

Yes, Hyper-V Server can cluster, the Windows 8 client Hyper-V cannot.

If you need 400 Windows Server VMs on one host, your best bet is to assign Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition to the host.  Datacenter edition lets you host unlimited Windows Server VMs with regards to licensing.

August 7th, 2013 7:10pm

See the verions of Windows 8 its x86 or x64bit..... if its 32 bit you can you only 4GB of it from the physical memory.


  • Edited by Santhosh N Wednesday, August 07, 2013 7:41 PM
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August 7th, 2013 7:40pm

See the verions of Windows 8 its x86 or x64bit..... if its 32 bit you can you only 4GB of it from the physical memory.


Doesn't matter.  You can only use Hyper-V with Windows 8 Pro 64bit.  There is no 32bit version of Windows that runs Hyper-V.
August 7th, 2013 10:14pm

In windows 8 number of VMs will supports but depend upon machine hardware like CPU, Memory & harddisk capacity. You can install number of guest OS with same license key also it works fine. 



  • Edited by Santhosh N Thursday, August 08, 2013 10:24 AM
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August 8th, 2013 10:11am

Excellent answer, thank you.
August 30th, 2013 1:31am

If your upgrade path is XP-->Win7-->Win8, then no, you can't reassign licenses from your upgrade path, they are still attached to the upgraded system.


 This is assuming the OP did an in-place upgrade licence rather than a new OS?

Surely if you had XP or win7 and bought a new boxed copy of win 8 pro the original XP/Win7 licence is no longer in use?

 

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March 18th, 2015 9:14am

If your upgrade path is XP-->Win7-->Win8, then no, you can't reassign licenses from your upgrade path, they are still attached to the upgraded system.


 This is assuming the OP did an in-place upgrade licence rather than a new OS?

Surely if you had XP or win7 and bought a new boxed copy of win 8 pro the original XP/Win7 licence is no longer in use?

 

It's not really assuming since the OP asked "IF I upgraded from XP or Win7"

If the original XP or Win 7 was a retail license you could use it.  If it was an OEM license, then no.

March 18th, 2015 1:44pm

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