Microsoft Windows Server:
OEM versions of Microsoft Windows Servers licenses DO grant downgrade rights.
OEM versions released with, or after Windows Server2003 R2 allow the end user to downgrade to an earlier version.
To downgrade the customer must supply media to the OEM System Builder. The media must come from a legally licensed version of that
product purchased via Microsoft retail, OEM/System Builder, or Volume License channels.
Microsoft Software Assurance can be purchased within 90 days of the OEM Software purchase. Software Assurance on Server Products
offers business benefits such as new version rights, e-Learning, access to step ups, cold 24 x 7 problem resolution support and more.
Hardware Replacement
Generally an end user can upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on a computer, except the motherboard, and still retain
the license for the original Microsoft OEM Windows Desktop Operating System software.
If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created. Microsoft OEM
Windows Desktop Operating system software cannot be transferred to the new computer, and new operating system software is
required.
If the motherboard is replaced because it is defective, you do not need to acquire a new operating system license for the PC as long as the
replacement motherboard is the same make/model or the same manufacturer’s replacement/equivalent, as defined by the
manufacturer’s warranty.
The reason for this licensing rule primarily relates to the End User Software License Terms and the support of the software covered by
that End User Software License Terms. The End User Software License Terms is a set of usage rights granted to the end user by the PC
manufacturer and relates only to rights for that software as installed on that particular PC.
The System Builder is required to support the software on the original PC. Understanding
that end users, over time, upgrade their PCs with different components, Microsoft needed to have one base component “left standing”
that would still define the original PC. Since the motherboard contains the CPU and is the “heart and soul” of the PC, when the
motherboard is replaced (for reasons other than defect) a new PC is essentially created. The original System Builder did not manufacture
this new PC, and therefore cannot be expected to support it.