I'm sending the below out to the announce list. Short story is do not give out Windows installation media without informing them of the below policy. If they cannot produce a Windows license key, send a note to purchase@[mcs/alcf/cels].anl.gov asking them to purchase this for them: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5... An OEM key from the sticker on a laptop is fine. We need to track these centrally - Tina, I need you to do that.

Hey, folks. I wanted to send everyone a note on how we license Windows for use on machines that didn't come with Windows on them in the first place.

I've recently discovered that the license fee we pay on our annual renewals are for upgrade licenses (i.e. licenses for prior versions of Windows we already own). So in paying this fee, we're entitled to upgrade previously licensed copies of XP or Vista to 7. But we still need to have a license for each installed copy of Windows.

This has an effect on people who run Windows in a virtual machine. Unless you have a Windows license, we can't just give you a copy of Windows to install for a VM.

As such, from now on we'll have to use a new process for handing out Windows CDs for VM usage. If you request a Windows CD image from us, you'll need to provide us with a license key from any previous or current version of Windows Professional or higher (which we'll track in a spreadsheet for you from that time forward). If you don't have one, we'll send a note to your purchasing coordinator to purchase a license for you. The cost for a suitable license is $140.

When we do our next software count for Windows, we'll do a bulk purchase for any unlicensed copies. -- Craig

-- Craig