Reply by John Kennedy from IT4Business on Wednesday, 16 December, 2015 - 11:05

Angela, You sure can. RDS Office licences actually come from the client PC anyway (In terms of how you licence it) the RDS server isn't actually ever licenced. You will be fine to do it this way. Alan IT4Business

Reply by Grant Laing from Blended IT Solutions on Wednesday, 16 December, 2015 - 11:45

Hi Angela, Licensing works different for office to RDS licensing. No you can't do this this would be two licences, one on the RDS and one on the local desktop. As this is two different OS platforms. Also on the RDS you need a licence for every user that accesses it. Will check this but this is the rule it has always been for office based licences.

Reply by Grant Laing from Blended IT Solutions on Wednesday, 16 December, 2015 - 12:08

Hi Angela, Here is an Update to the last answer. This exert is straight from Microsoft pdf on office licensing. Customers may access Microsoft Office remotely, but one license is required for each physical device running or accessing the application. This includes situations where you run the software on your local device or access the software installed on another device like a server. Remote Access for Microsoft Office With Remote Use Rights, a company may install Microsoft Office on a single device such as a server and then allow users to access Microsoft Office remotely from licensed desktops (or as the primary user of the licensed device hosting the session) as if the desktop application was installed locally on their desktops. Remote Use Rights are granted under desktop application licenses for Microsoft Office acquired through Microsoft Volume Licensing. When a copy of Microsoft Office software is installed on a server, users may remotely access and use the copy of Microsoft Office from any licensed device. When a copy of Microsoft Office is installed on a desktop, the primary user of the desktop may remotely access and use the software from any other device. Other users in the organization may also access and use the copy of software installed on a desktop from other separately licensed devices. Examples of remote access technology used with Microsoft Office licensed as a desktop application include Remote Desktop Services (RDS) as part of Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution. Using any component of this technology requires an RDS CAL license for each user or device used to access the server remotely. Components of a Microsoft Office suite may vary per software product edition. Under Remote Use Rights, a customer may only access a copy of the same edition of Microsoft Office as its copy on their individual licensed device. For example, if a customer is using a device licensed for Microsoft Office Standard 2016, they may access Office Standard 2016 running on a server. The device may not use Remote Use Rights to use components of Office Professional Plus 2016. So if you are using it under Virtual desktop environment that is fine, but the desktop locally still has to be licensed. If you are planning to install it on a RDS/Terminal server for users to access, and also to access locally on the desktop, then you require 2 licences. One for the server and one for desktop. This is because they expect that user would be remotely accessing their own desktop under the virtual desktop environment scenario. If you need anymore info drops us an email @ grant@blendedit.com.au

Reply by allitsolutions on Wednesday, 16 December, 2015 - 12:35

Hi Angela, Just confirming with you that, one, non-retail license of Office standard, Professional or professional plus will license a particular user on both their desktop and the RDS server. This has been the case for some time. Of course there may be a recent change, but I doubt it.

Reply by Grant Laing from Blended IT Solutions on Wednesday, 16 December, 2015 - 13:43

Hi Angela, For non-retail licencing for example under open licence, unless you have a company-wide or enterprise licence agreement you still require 2 licences, as you are still only licenced for the number licence instances per user or device. This is because the systems are classed as two different physical hardware locations. Thanks Grant