Licensing Office to run on a server

Another right that is granted when an Office license is acquired through a Volume Licensing agreement or CSP, is the right to install Office on a server and use it from there. This means that both RDS scenarios, where Office runs on the server, and VDI scenarios, where Office runs in a virtual desktop on the server, are supported.

Although Office is not installed on the device, an Office license does need to be assigned to each device that will access Office in either type of scenario.

The server where Office is running could be either one that the customer itself owns and manages, or one owned and managed by an Authorized Outsourcer. Assuming that the VDI server is a Microsoft one, then both scenarios use Windows Server 2022 and Remote Desktop Services, and thus each user or device also needs a Windows Server 2022 CAL and an RDS 2022 CAL. Windows 11 Enterprise licenses are also required for the VDI scenario.

Microsoft introduced the Flexible Virtualization Benefit in October 2022 and this gives added flexibility for customers with Office LTSC Standard/Professional Plus 2021 licenses with Software Assurance. These customers can also use their licenses to install and run Office on Authorized Outsourcers’ servers that are shared between customers. The full range of server deployment options for Office LTSC 2021 are covered in detail here.

And finally, Roaming Rights are available when a customer buys Software Assurance with their Office licenses. These rights are useful when Office is installed on and run from a server in a Remote Desktop Services deployment and users need to access it from third-party owned devices when they’re outside the corporate premises. Theoretically, every machine that accesses Office via RDS needs to be licensed with an individual Office license and if users use multiple devices this clearly has the potential to be extremely expensive and/or impossible to license. Roaming Rights relax this condition and give the primary user of the device licensed with Office LTSC Standard/Professional Plus 2021 with SA the rights to access Office through RDS on any third party-owned device outside of the corporate premises.