Recommended Posts

Hello folks,

I've noticed that my Microsoft Volume Licensing portal shows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter versions, but no Enterprise.

Can anyone point me to information that will either explain this or suggest that an Enterprise version will eventually show up?

Thanks!

Edit: I should add that this is for my workplace account. We have had access to Enterprise versions of every server OS so far.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1118481-server-2012-enterprise/
Share on other sites

With the new licensing model in Server 2012, Standard is the new Enterprise. What features are you looking for that you need from Enterprise?

If you're looking for a full comparison, check out this Wikipedia page for a full list of features (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Server_2012#Editions)

  • 5 weeks later...

With the new licensing model in Server 2012, Standard is the new Enterprise. What features are you looking for that you need from Enterprise?

If you're looking for a full comparison, check out this Wikipedia page for a full list of features (http://en.wikipedia....r_2012#Editions)

That's pretty square-on - Datacenter Server replaces both Enterprise Server and (understandably) HPC Server, while Standard replaces everything else (and, based on what it includes, *should* have replaced Windows Home Server, as Standard includes the useful-from-the-get-go Hyper-V support that Server Essentials lacks).

The pain in the rear with Standard is that if you use it as a Home Server replacement, you're going to wind up with a multirole server, as it pretty much forces you into the domain model for a standalone server; once you go down THAT road, you might as well make it a *server of servers* (multiple virtual servers hosted via Hyper-V). With multiple VMs (even if just servers), the CPU won't be the bog-down point (unless you're running multiple virtual SQL Server databases) as Hyper-V is surprisingly thrifty when it comes to CPU cycles, but memory may be; good thing DDR3 (standard unbuffered) is silly-cheap.

For the server build itself, for a home or other non-production server (including a test lab), my motherboard recommendation is, weirdly enough, identical to that for a gaming PC - i5 and a Z-series chipset (LGA1155). However, because this *is* a server, it need not be either a K-series (unlocked) or even Ivy Bridge CPU - a Sandy Bridge i5 is just fine. For the GPU side of the server, AMD's HD7750 makes all too much sense (no aux power needed *and* it can be leveraged by RemoteFX, which further de-leverages the CPU)

I got a Server 2012 setup here.

I got an i5 3570K and 16GB RAM on an Asrock z77 pro3 mobo.... now for remoteFX you will need to install desktop services roles and it's a lot of stuff to install... this is in order to use the GPU features.... if you don't install this you end up with standard graphics.

Sorry for not getting back to this after my original question. Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't really looking for any additional features... just wondering what had changed in their licensing model. It seems like a pretty big change to go from thousands of businesses using Enterprise versions to using the Standard version in 2012. Seems to me that it would have been a good idea for MS to provide a ton of information about this change beforehand.

I got a Server 2012 setup here.

I got an i5 3570K and 16GB RAM on an Asrock z77 pro3 mobo.... now for remoteFX you will need to install desktop services roles and it's a lot of stuff to install... this is in order to use the GPU features.... if you don't install this you end up with standard graphics.

Am I correct in assuming that you mean the Remote Desktop Services role?

I got a Server 2012 setup here.

I got an i5 3570K and 16GB RAM on an Asrock z77 pro3 mobo.... now for remoteFX you will need to install desktop services roles and it's a lot of stuff to install... this is in order to use the GPU features.... if you don't install this you end up with standard graphics.

Got a Server2012 Install, was looking at the RemoteFX, but i think ill wait till i get a better video card.

With the new licensing model in Server 2012, Standard is the new Enterprise. What features are you looking for that you need from Enterprise?

If you're looking for a full comparison, check out this Wikipedia page for a full list of features (http://en.wikipedia....r_2012#Editions)

So where does Cluster Failover Manager come in? It used to be an Enterprise feature but I don't see it in the list.

Correct

So, i just went through the process of getting the Desktop Experience installed on my Server 2012 VM. It's actually not necessary to install the Remote Desktop Services role at all. If you go to the Select Features screen in the Add Roles & Features Wizard, you'll see User Interfaces and Infrastructure. This includes Graphical Management Tools, Desktop Experience, and Server Graphical Shell. Install these, reboot, and your server looks much like a Windows 8 desktop. You could also just run "this dism /online /enable-feature /all /featurename:desktopExperience"

Here's a good link on the topic: http://www.win2012workstation.com/desktop-experience/

And Server 2012 Standard (with all the Enterprise goodness) is on DreamSpark! :woot: :woot:

It is on Website Spark as well (a new-for-2012 subset of DreamSpark - thanks to remixedcat for telling me about that); I'm dual-booting 8 and Server 2012 Standard; unlike 8, Server 2012 does *not* require SLAT/EPT unless you install RemoteFX (which works with any GPU that supports DX11 or greater - do you typically see big honking GPUs in a server?). For that reason, I find Server 2012 quite usable in the Hyper-V role.

There are only three paid versions of Windows Server 2012 - Essentials (replaces Small Business Server and Home Server), Standard (which also replaces Enterprise) and Datacenter (which also replaces Multipoint and HPC Server).

Still available (and free) is Hyper-V Server (semi-bare-metal virtualization server that targets Xen and other free hypervisors - in addition to being remotable via PowerShell, it also includes a hyperminimal GUI).

Sorry for not getting back to this after my original question. Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't really looking for any additional features... just wondering what had changed in their licensing model. It seems like a pretty big change to go from thousands of businesses using Enterprise versions to using the Standard version in 2012. Seems to me that it would have been a good idea for MS to provide a ton of information about this change beforehand.

Sorry, I don't have my vendor's PDF's on hand right now, but I'll list what I know. I'm assuming you have SA. If you check through your 2012 license counts, conversion should be as follows:

Every license of Server 2008 R2 Enterprise you owned has become 2 licenses of Server 2012 Standard.

Every license of Server 2008 R2 Enterprise you owned "may" have also become 1 license of System Center 2012 Standard. I am not 100% positive on this, however in reading my vendors 2012 product change guides, it indicates that any ?Enterprise? license becomes 1 System Center Standard license, and I did gain a number of "phantom" System Center Standard licenses that are equal in number to my Windows Enterprise licenses.

For every 2 single processor licenses of Server 2008 R2 Datacenter owned, you gain 1 Server 2012 Datacenter license that covers two processors.

For every 2 single processor licenses of SMSD owned, you gain 1 System Center 2012 Datacenter license that covers two processors.

Every individual license you had of a prior System Center product with SA has become 1 System Center 2012 Standard license. If you had 2 SCCM licenses, 2 SCOM licenses, 1 SCVMM license, you gained a total of 5 System Center 2012 Standard licenses.

For sake of licensing and processor counts, you are now always supposed to round up to an even number. If your server has one processor, licensing requires you count it as two.

If your server is running Server 2012 Standard and is running 1-2 Server 2012 Standard VM, its consuming 1 license. If it?s running 3-4 Server 2012 Standard VM?s, it?s consuming 2 Server 2012 Standard licenses.

There are additional conversions I'm not entirely recalling because I didn't own any.

So, i just went through the process of getting the Desktop Experience installed on my Server 2012 VM. It's actually not necessary to install the Remote Desktop Services role at all. If you go to the Select Features screen in the Add Roles & Features Wizard, you'll see User Interfaces and Infrastructure. This includes Graphical Management Tools, Desktop Experience, and Server Graphical Shell. Install these, reboot, and your server looks much like a Windows 8 desktop. You could also just run "this dism /online /enable-feature /all /featurename:desktopExperience"

Here's a good link on the topic: http://www.win2012wo...top-experience/

I meant that for remoteFX for Hyper-V VMs.

and Server 2012 FTW!!!

I meant that for remoteFX for Hyper-V VMs.

Whoops... totally missed that. I don't know much about RemoteFX yet, but am reading up on it now. I doubt the GeForce 8600GT in my "server" box is enough to utilize it.

and Server 2012 FTW!!!

Yeah, it's pretty slick for the most part. Can't say I like them mirroring the Windows 8 interface for a server OS in production environments, but it does have some great features.

  • 2 weeks later...
It seems like a pretty big change to go from thousands of businesses using Enterprise versions to using the Standard version in 2012. Seems to me that it would have been a good idea for MS to provide a ton of information about this change beforehand.

For what it's worth, back in July 2012 they did roll out stuff like this:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/buy.aspx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/D/B/4DB352D1-C610-466A-9AAF-EEF4F4CFFF27/WS2012_Licensing-Pricing_FAQ.pdf

http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/1/6/C1667DE0-EAC8-4DE7-BC47-E27DAE5B38D6/WS%202012%20Data%20Sheet_All%20Up%20Product%20Overview.pdf

Also, the betas and release candidates all had only Standard and Datacenter installation options, so any organization that was keeping up would have figured out by July of 2012 that this was intentional, and why. While migrating licenses from Server 2008/2008R2 to 2012 can be a bit of bookkeeping work, the Server 2012 licensing seems easier to deal with as there are fewer options, and those are really more targeted at usage scenarios than simply editions to unlock features at higher costs (for example, the only real difference between Datacenter and Standard is cost and virtualization rights - they can both perform the same roles and features).

Is there anyway to get RemoteFX working with non-Quadro/FireGL cards? I have an Nvidia GTX 650 1GB but I haven't had any luck so far getting RemoteFX working properly.

same here :( I got a 650Ti

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
    • Or every other browser, because they all behave the same, at least the mainstream ones. Firefox does exactly the same: background updates, restart to install them. Haters gotta hate, I guess.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      AndrewSteel earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Veteran
      Taliseian went up a rank
      Veteran
    • One Month Later
      Clizby earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Timaximus earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Timaximus earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      170
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      162
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      85
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      78
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!