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in our company I have a few computers that are already Windows 7 clients to a Windows Server 2008 R2 but are now supposed to receive an additional Linux installation as a dual-boot option. The licensing mode on the terminal server is set to "per device" and they have each pulled a license in their windows installation as they're supposed to.

Now how will this be handled by the Terminal Server if I connect the first time via RDP from the Linux OS? We also have 2 Linux Thin Clients who pull a licence just as the Windows PCs do but they only run linux, so its works just fine. I don't want those dual-boot computers to use up 2 licenses.

How is the "per device" policy enforced? Does the server check the computer name for that i.e. would I be able to solve the problem by making sure both OSs use the same computer name?

Please note that I'm asking about the Terminal Server Client Access Licenses (TS CALs) which are handed out to RDP-Clients and "used up".

Thanks a lot for your assistance

LumenAlbum
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    Not really a double - the gist is the technical part (machine registering licenses), not the legal one. – TomTom Apr 04 '14 at 11:15
  • As TomTom already mentioned this is indeed a technical question. That's why I explicitly mentioned that I am solely refering to the TS CALs and their distribution and not any other kind of licenses. I hate that nowadays everything that sounds remotely related gets flagged as duplicate on here – LumenAlbum Apr 04 '14 at 11:45
  • To be perfecly clear: I am not interested in any legal advice - we have all the licenses we legally need. I just want to make sure I'll not use up 2 licenses with one PC – LumenAlbum Apr 04 '14 at 11:50
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    This is a bit of a sticky subject, and I understand why people have hesitations about it being a licensing question, as MS does a poor job describing what a "device" is in their license agreement. Since the license terms explicitly separate "the software" from "the device" I believe it's a non-issue in your situation (ie, no licensing implications, not a licensing question). – Chris S Apr 04 '14 at 14:33

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On Windows the Per-Device license is stored on the client under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing. It should be possible to copy this information to the Linux client if it properly supports Per-Device licensing (storing the license client-side). I suspect "simple" client software just claims to be a new computer every time, so this might not actually work. When a computer connects for the first time it is issued a temporary license, it's only on the second connection that it gets issued a "permanent" device license (after a timeout period the license is reclaimed of course).

Chris S
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  • Thanks for your answer. From my experiences with the 2 Linux Thin Clients I know that it can handle storing the license. If it would pull a new one each time we would've run out of them by now. As for your suggestion I'll look how and where linux stores the info as opposed to the Windows registry. Perhaps the file content will offer any insight – LumenAlbum Apr 04 '14 at 15:25