How does Windows installation work at a large company? Licensing?

Question

How does Windows installation work at a large company? Licensing?

I know that you can deploy installations to multiple computers in a company or school. Do the IT guys have to enter license keys per computer every time or do they leave it blank?

If the IT guys reimage the computers, are the license keys reusable or do they have to use a new one every single time they reimage the computers?

Side question: are backups and "images" the same thing?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It depends on how they deploy Windows in the 1st place and it varies depending on the version of Windows.

See Bill's links on Volume licensing.

They can distribute images which contain the key in an answer file included with the image, manage licenses through a key management server or just enter the key during a single installation. It depends on the individual circumstances.

On the Side question, not necessarily. An image is the snapshot of the entire computer drive at a fixed point in time so could be termed as being a backup but with limited flexibility.

Properly managed backups can be selective, only storing the data files you need without including stuff you don't and sequentially managed so you can restore a specific version of file or files from particular points in time. If you start off repairing a computer by reinstalling Windows your backup does not need the Windows files. Trying to do that through imaging would be cumbersome at least. To get that same "point in time" feature through images would require vast amounts of storage.

Answer 2

Hi,

We don't work for Microsoft; we are mainly volunteers here.

See if this assists you

Frequently asked questions about Volume License keys

Windows 8.1 licensing and volume activation

Cheers.