0

I have just spent the last 45 minutes reading through MS's licensing pages and still cannot for the life of me figure out how to find out how much it is for volume licensing, for say 8 copies of Windows 7; if not 7, then 8.

I click on Windows 7 here and it just takes me to some page that really doesn't help me. On the right hand side menu I click on the "Sign in to the Volume Licensing Service Center" link but that just takes me to some place that appears to be for people that already have licenses; then I click on the link below it but that takes me to some other place I'm not sure if I'm in the right place; then I check out the "Partner Page" link and that just confuses me more.

I also clicked on the "How to Buy" link in the top menu and that wasn't all that helpful either..... I went to the "License Advisor" to get a quote, but that only showed Windows 8 "upgrade" options and nothing on Windows 7.

How can I simply find out how much it is if I want to buy several copies of Windows 7? Does it really need to be this hard!?

Edit: From more reading it seems you can only upgrade to a volume license from an installed copy; so I'm assuming you buy one copy and then install it on each machine and then do the upgrade!? No idea - very confusing!

Brett
  • 929
  • 5
  • 17
  • 33
  • Microsoft doesn't sell Windows 7 any more ... – DavidPostill Dec 13 '14 at 11:17
  • @DavidPostill Well Windows 8 wasn't exactly easy to find either. – Brett Dec 13 '14 at 11:19
  • This is a spectacular post, thank you! Always remember time IS money, so to spend one on the expense of the other is a net loss. The product stacks at Microsoft is also in constant flux and I personally do not trust their internal balance to be sound on the first place. Do what I do - use their trial software, and re-install them periodically. You loose time, maybe lots of it, but at least you fully control that balance. I post this as facts on economics and nothing else. Once you move to production loss or profit - worry when you cross that bridge. – arch-abit Dec 13 '14 at 14:12

1 Answers1

1

Microsoft doesn't sell volume licenses directly to customers, so you won't find such pricing on their websites. You can find the pricing you're looking for from Dell or CDW. Microsoft's margins to resellers is so small that you won't find much difference in price between legitimate channel sellers (ones selling illegal licenses will be much cheaper, but that serves as a very reliable red flag as to their illegitimacy).

You can still aquire Windows 7 licenses. In fact, volume licensing is one of the best ways to do so. Simply purchase Windows 8.1 Pro (or better) licenses, then exercise the included downgrade rights to install Windows 7. Since the underlying license is Windows 8.1, you can always later switch to the newer OS if you so wish.

I say Reinstate Monica
  • 25,487
  • 19
  • 95
  • 131