Windows 2022: Are you planning to upgrade and deploy? – Cloud Blog – VMware

What you need to know about Licensing Microsoft Windows Server 2022 for VMware Cloud on AWS

Microsoft has recently announced that the next version of Windows Server, Windows Server 2022, is now available in the Volume License programs. For those of you who are planning to upgrade and deploy that version on VMware Cloud on AWS, or any Listed Provider, you will want to pay attention to the Outsourcing Software Management. The rules for using Listed Providers took effect in October 2019. You can find this section in the Microsoft Commercial Licensing Terms .

The licensing rights and terms of use are not changing from Windows 2019 to Windows 2022 (AKA Windows Server 2022). Customers who upgrade to Windows 2022 will no longer have the ability to “Bring You Own License” (BYOL) to a Listed Provider cloud. That’s because any new version released after October 1, 2019 will fall under the new definitions and use rights in the Microsoft Product Terms. See the updated Microsoft licensing terms for dedicated hosted cloud services in our  FAQ

What options should you consider? You can choose not to upgrade and keep running your compliant BYOL Windows workloads on VMware Cloud on AWS. Some of you will be forced to upgrade due to application requirements, so beware that you could become non-compliant with an upgrade.

You can also choose to license your VMware Cloud on AWS through the VMware included license, that is an easy way to stay on the new releases compliantly. That way you will have the right use Windows Server 2022 and even prior versions and lower editions, all while scaling up or down consumption as needed on a monthly basis.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact us: vmc-microsoft-ext@vmware.com. We’re here to help.