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Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter core licensing now covers a minimum of 8 core licenses for each physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licenses for each server. Windows Server 2016 is the cloud-ready operating system that supports your current workloads while introducing other advanced technologies that make it easy … Computers that are running volume licensing editions of Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 are, by default, KMS clients with no additional configuration needed. The Windows Server 2016 licensing model includes both Cores + Client Access Licenses (CALs). 2 GB of RAM can run Windows Server 2016 key applied OS. Windows Server 2016 licensing model The business model for Standard and Datacenter editions transitioned from processor-based to core-based licensing in October 2016 with the general availability of Windows Server 2016 (all other editions of Windows Server 2016 System Requirements for Windows Server 2016: Your system must be 64-bit. Here is a feature comparison from Microsoft’s licensing datasheet (available for download here): Each set of 16 Windows Server core licenses with Software Assurance (and each Windows Server processor license with Software Assurance), entitles customers to use Windows Server on Microsoft Azure on up to 16 virtual cores allocated across two or fewer Azure Base Instances. 4 GHz would work, however, 3.1 GHz is recommended. Server-side licenses for Windows Server 2016 are sold as two-core packs, with a minimum purchase of 16 cores for single or dual processor servers and 32 cores for quad-processor servers. Generally available as of Oct. 2016, Windows Server 2016 licenses servers based on cores rather than processors, uses technical features to differentiate between Datacenter and Standard editions, and introduces new Software Assurance (SA) dependencies. Each user and/or device accessing a licensed Windows Server Standard, Datacenter, or Multipoint edition requires a Windows Server CAL or Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services CAL. This licensing guide is not a legal use rights document. Get Windows Product License Information (including product key) GUI Tool Windows License Extractor is a small PowerShell/WinForms GUI tool (Sapien PowerShell Studio 2015) that will help you to display/export licensing information (including the product key where possible) for your current running operating system, as well as other remote computers. Core licenses are sold in packs of two with Standard Edition providing the familiar rights to run 2 virtualized OS environments. Specific license terms for Windows Server 2016 are defined in the Microsoft Commercial Licensing Product Terms, the Microsoft Commercial Licensing agreement under which it was acquired, and/or its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or Retail Software License Terms. Windows Server 2016 has the same distinction between Datacenter and Standard (unlimited VMs versus two VMs), but it adds a number of advanced features in Datacenter. Windows Server 2016 Open License Open License is a good volume licensing option if you are a corporate, academic, charitable, or government organization that wants to pay as you go.