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A friend of mine has to set up a Windows server box and is in a hurry – the server must be running asap. He has successfully ordered a IBM System x3100 M5 with appropriate RAM and HDDs. However, there are difficulties in the delivery of the recommended operating system version, which is IBM Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation, ROK, 1 CPU (the OS can be delivered but it will arrive a couple of days too late).

Because of the fact that I am a Linux guy, I am not too familiar with Microsofts licensing options and restrictions. Firstly, I am not sure if I really need IBM's ROK version for successful operation of the server (does it include important drivers that other distributions lack?). Secondly, I am not entirely sure if I could simply install an evaluation version first, and later on use the product key of the IBM Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation, ROK, 1 CPU as soon as it has arrived (there seem to be only evaluation versions of the Essentials/Standard/DataCenter, but not for the Foundation). Would a Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials work as well for my server? Does it include all required drivers?

So how should I tackle this situation? My favorite option would be to (of course legally) buy-download-burn the IBM Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation, ROK, 1 CPU somewhere, but it seems that this is not offered. My second favorite alternative would be to download and burn a Windows Server version which can be migrated later on to the supported version. But I am a bit lost in Microsofts version and license jungle.

Mischa
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  • We are all lost in MS licensing jungle (and therefore declared this as off-topic), but I believe that there is no migration path to and from "Foundation" versions of Windows server, so you would have to reinstall the OS from scratch when you get the correct license. And BTW, "Foundation" licenses are OEM versions that are only sold by server vendors and that are tied to that specific hardware, which is why you can't just buy/download it anywhere else. – Sven Jan 19 '17 at 17:28
  • What do you need it for? Website? database? AD? Why the hurry? You have to figure once you have the OS you still need to load it, configure it, not saying you might not have to do things twice, but if it is, for instance a website, you could throw it up on a server somewhere else for a couple days, Really depends on what your hurry is. – Anthony Fornito Jan 19 '17 at 17:29
  • A lot of answers to your questions can also be found here https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj679892.aspx – Anthony Fornito Jan 19 '17 at 17:36

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