Ask HN: Can single licenses of Windows 10 Enterprise be purchased?

2 points by walterbell 10y ago ↗ HN

Win10 Enterprise is the only version that allows telemetry to be disabled, or full control of updates (Long Term Support Branch = LTSB). But only the Home and Pro editions are available on the Microsoft Store online. A web search of retailers was not successful in finding Win10 Enterprise.

http://www.mirazon.com/windows-8-1-enterprise-get/ says that it was possible to buy Win8 Pro on a new machine, then obtain Software Assurance without Volume Licensing. The SA entitlement could then be used to upgrade Win8 Pro to Win8 Enterprise.

http://www.microsoftlicensereview.com/?tag=windows-10-enterprise says, "In March 2014, Microsoft updated their channel policies with the implication that SA is only available when purchased with Windows Enterprise. After July 2014, organisations were unable to purchase Software Assurance (SA) and retrospectively assign to Windows OEM or retail purchases within 90 days, In addition, organisations are unable to purchase Windows Enterprise stand alone without SA under the Enterprise Agreement or MPSA volume licensing programmes.".

If it is not possible to purchase single copies of Win10 Enterprise, what is the minimum number of copies that must be purchased?

2 comments

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seesharp 10y ago ↗

You can get Windows 10 Enterprise via MSDN (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/hh4...). You can get MSDN for free if you have a startup with less than $1M of revenue via BizSpark.

walterbell 10y ago ↗

Thanks for the pointer. MSDN would cost $1200 for 2 years (https://www.visualstudio.com/products/how-to-buy-vs) which would provide perpetual licenses for development purposes.

http://lemingtonit.com/services/FAQMVLS.aspx says that a volume license agreement starts with a minimum of 5 licenses, but they can be different SKUs, including low-cost ones.