What Windows license type is required for a Virtual Machine?

Question

I currently have a computer running Windows 11 Pro and I would like to run a couple of Virtual Machines on that using VirtualBox. In each of those machines I would also like to run Windows 11 Pro. What Windows license type do I need to purchase for these VM's? Is a full retail version required? Would an OEM version work? Is there some kind of VM license?

I would be the sole user of all these machines, I'm just trying to avoid duplicating the hardware.

Answer 1

As per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1281838/how-to-configure-a-licence-for-a-single-windows-11 and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1161652/azure-virtual-machine-which-license-to-use-for-pri

How do I license a single instance of Windows 10/11 on Azure?

Unlike Windows Server which includes the OS cost with the VM, Windows 10 and Windows 11 require that you bring your own license that can be used in a cloud environment. For production environments, this means a multitenant license found in specific enterprise and other licenses listed here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/windows-desktop-multitenant-hosting-deployment

You could use an Enterprise E3/E5 license for deploying Windows 10/11 on Azure however if this is for personal, development, or test purposes, you can use Windows client images in Azure which may be more accessible for individual use through a Visual Studio subscription as well as other offers as listed here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/client-images

---

hth

Marcin