May a Device Be Used to Access a VDI?

The right to access a Windows client OS-based virtual desktop hosted on an organization’s virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is contingent on a variety of factors, including the presence of various user- and device-based subscription licenses and attributes of the client access device being used, such as location of use. In this flowchart, VDI refers to an architecture that provides server-based desktops by using copies of Windows Enterprise or Pro running in virtual machines hosted on servers in a data center.

The flowchart covers rules effective as of Dec. 2014 under both the new Per-User (Path A) and the existing Per-Device (Paths B, C, and D) models for licensing Windows under volume licensing contracts. Both include VDI access rights, and customers willing to tolerate a higher level of licensing complexity may license some parts of their organization Per-Device and others Per-User. (Note that as of Dec. 2014, the Companion Subscription Licenses [CSLs] formerly offered under the Per-Device model are no longer being sold, and all existing CSLs will have the same use rights as if they were a Windows Enterprise SA Per-User Add-on.)