Pre-owned Windows Server 2022 Datacenter (2 Core) Licences

When you buy a pre-owned Windows Server 2022 Datacenter (2 Core) licence, you receive exactly what the original corporate owner held: a Microsoft perpetual Volume licence, valid for an unlimited period, at a discount to buying new. Datacenter is Microsoft's server operating system edition for highly virtualised environments. Providing all physical cores in the server are fully licensed, Datacenter edition allows unlimited operating system environments (OSEs) or Hyper-V containers, which is why it suits consolidation hosts and heavily virtualised infrastructure. This product licenses 2 cores per physical server.

Every licence we sell is a Pre-owned Perpetual Volume licence sourced from Microsoft perpetual volume licensing "Open", "Select", "Enterprise" or MPSA programs. We do not supply FPP or OEM product. What you purchase is a documented transfer of the original Microsoft Volume licence, supplied with a complete documented audit trail to prove legal ownership in case of a vendor or SAM audit. All software licences undergo stringent checks to ensure they are fully compliant with EU and UK legislation, and previous version downgrade rights are included.

We are a quote-based supplier and show no prices on site. Tell us how many 2-core packs you need using Add to Quote, and we will respond to your request within 24 hours with a quotation. Licences for Corporate use only.

How Windows Server 2022 Datacenter licensing works

Windows Server 2022 Datacenter uses Microsoft's Per Core with CAL licensing model. Microsoft sells core licences in 2-packs and 16-packs; this page is the 2-core pack, which lets you build the exact core count your hardware requires.

Core minimums

• All physical cores in the server must be licensed.
• Minimum of 8 core licences per physical processor.
• Minimum of 16 core licences per server. Even a small single-processor host therefore needs at least eight 2-core packs.
• Worked example: a two-processor server with 16 cores per processor needs 32 core licences, supplied as sixteen 2-core packs.

Client Access Licences (CALs)

• Core licences cover the server, not the people or devices using it. Every user or device that accesses the server directly or indirectly requires a Windows Server CAL (Base CAL).
• Advanced functionality, for example Remote Desktop Services, requires the relevant Additive CAL on top of the Base CAL.
• The External Connector licence is the alternative for external users.

Virtualisation rights

• This is Datacenter's defining advantage. Once all physical cores are fully licensed, the server may run any number of OSEs or Windows Server Containers with Hyper-V isolation, plus unlimited Windows Server Containers without Hyper-V isolation.
• Unlike Standard edition, there is no licence stacking: however many virtual machines you add to the licensed host, the core licences never need to be assigned again.

Downgrade rights

• Previous version downgrade rights included. In place of the licensed product you may deploy Windows Server Datacenter 2019 or earlier.
• All use rights remain governed by the Windows Server 2022 Datacenter licence you hold.

Activation

• Activation method: MAK or KMS.
• Media downloads and product activation keys are provided through our Secondary Software Licence Centre (SSLC) client portal, alongside your invoice and full proof-of-ownership documentation.

Why buy pre-owned from Discount-Licensing

We did not arrive at the secondary market recently. Discount-Licensing was incorporated in July 2004, after researching the legalities of a European secondary licence market with Microsoft's cooperation during 2003 and 2004, and launched the secondary market in Microsoft Volume licences in November 2005. We have been in business since 2004.

• Two trading entities: Discount-Licensing Ltd (UK, Company No: 05183378), and Discount-Licensing S.L. (Spain, NIF No: B06819676), incorporated at the end of 2020 to spearhead the EU business and maintain 100% legal supply and demand throughout Europe post-Brexit.
• ISO 9001:2015 certified in both the EU and the UK.
• Every transaction is protected with our Professional Indemnity insurance.
• Every licence is supplied with a complete documented audit trail to prove legal ownership in case of a vendor or SAM audit.
• Our Secondary Software Licence Centre (SSLC) web portal provides invoices, media downloads, product activation keys and full proof-of-ownership documentation for every transaction. Your account is created automatically when you place an order.
• We are a registered Microsoft Partner and authorised Microsoft Reseller, listed on the Microsoft AppSource partner directory. If pre-owned stock is unavailable we can supply new licences, so we can offer a complete solution for your software licence needs.
• Customer testimonials from Microlise, Camira Fabrics Ltd and Worldmark appear across the site, and customer references are available upon request.

The legal basis: EU-court-compliant licence transfer, not grey-market keys

We warrant that all software licences purchased by Discount-Licensing have been first put into use within the European Union (EU) / United Kingdom (UK), and we will provide proof of ownership for every purchase and sale in accordance with the European Software Directive 2009/24/EC.

Secondary software licence sales are provided for within the European Software Directive 2009/24/EC, Article 4(2), under which the first sale in the Community of a copy of a program, by the right holder or with his consent, exhausts the distribution right within the Community of that copy (rental rights excepted). On 3 July 2012 the European Court of Justice ruled against Oracle in UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp (Case C-128/11), reaffirming secondary software resale in Europe: the Principle of Exhaustion also applies to intangible and digital software, which includes software within Volume Licence Agreements sold by vendors such as Microsoft. Under the same ruling, a Licence Agreement can legally be split down to individual licence (product SKU) level, but no further.

A legitimate secondary supplier must be able to demonstrate, for every transaction:

• that the software was first put to use in the UK or Europe (the original Country of Usage)
• the original Microsoft customer's unique Licence Agreement (LA) and product SKU numbers, identifying who first purchased the software and what was purchased
• confirmation that the software has been divested and uninstalled from the original customer's server(s)
• ownership documentation leading back to the original Microsoft customer.

That is exactly what our audit trail contains, and it is the line that separates compliant licence transfer from grey-market key selling. Be wary of notary attestations used to conceal a licence's source, resold Microsoft Partner Pack or MSDN keys, self-designed "software certificates", and invoices that carry no unique Microsoft licence agreement number: these are the unlawful business models our Legal page warns against. Pre-owned licences may legally be bought to rectify non-compliance, before or after a SAM audit.

Get your quotation. Use Add to Quote to tell us how many Windows Server 2022 Datacenter 2-core packs your servers need, and we will respond to your request within 24 hours with a quotation. Prefer to talk it through first? Call us on +44 (0)1283 511524 (UK) or +34 934 923499 (EU). Licences for Corporate use only.