Guide to licensing resources for Microsoft partners

Appropriate roles: Help agent

As a Microsoft partner, you might be involved in one or more licensing programs, channels, or agreements.

If you work in the Partner Center, programs include:

  • Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program
  • Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program program

Other licensing programs include:

  • Enterprise Agreement (EA) licenses
  • Volume Licensing (VL)
  • OEM license program
  • Software Assurance training or vouchers program
  • Open Licensing

Each program has agreements and terms associated with it. Similarly, products you use might have extra, product-specific license agreements associated with their use.

If you have questions about how these programs work, these resources can help.

Note

If you need help with more detailed licensing questions or with a customer quote, start with your licensing program's assigned indirect provider (for the CSP program) or your program distributor. They're often your best, initial points of contact for questions about prerequisites, licenses, SKU purchases, or creating customer quotes. If you don't have a partner serving this role for you, see Find a partner to locate one.

You can also reach out to your Microsoft contacts to make use of an internal team of licensing experts. If you don't have Microsoft contacts, go to Partner Support and type licensing in the Support page's Issues field.

General resources about licensing and license training

You can learn more about licensing programs from the following resources.

Note

You might need to be enrolled in certain programs before you can access all of the resources shown here.

To do this: Read this:
Compare different partner license agreements for Microsoft cloud services and on-premises software (detailed view) Microsoft licensing agreements
Read more about Volume Licensing (VL) and licensing for specific solutions Microsoft licensing - products and solutions
Learn about Volume Licensing training and resources that can help with VL pricing, quotes, agreements, product activation, and other tools Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program training and resources
Explore the Get Licensing Ready licensing training modules Get Licensing Ready

Program-specific and product-specific licensing terms and agreements

To access some of the following resources, you might need to be enrolled in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program.

To do this: Read this:
Review or download the current version of Microsoft Product Terms for products or services in the Microsoft Volume Licensing program. Search licensing product terms
Search licensing resources
Learn more about the Software Assurance program and associated license along with how payment and vouchers work. Software assurance
Find OEM partner materials like pre-installation kits or training. Microsoft Device Partner Center
Answer usage questions for OEM customers or retail customers (also known as Full Packaged Product or FPP customers). This information is for customers whose software was licensed to them by Microsoft or a computer manufacturer. (These terms don't apply to customers in the Volume Licensing program.) Retail (FPP) Use Terms

Resources associated with license fulfillment or financing options

If you have questions about licensing fulfillment, payment, or financing, your first point of contact is your indirect provider (for the CSP program) or your program distributor. You might also find the following resources helpful.

Fulfillment question: See:
Installation media in the Volume Licensing program Licensing fulfillment page
Online services for the following enrollment programs: Enterprise Agreement (EA), Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE), and Open Value Subscription (OVS) Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center
Online services associated with the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) Microsoft Business Center training and resources or the MPSA FAQ
Online services associated with the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program How CSP program partners can sell subscriptions to customers
Microsoft payment and financing options questions Microsoft Financing program FAQ (The PDF file is saved automatically to your default download folder)

More resources to help with price lists, customer deals, license activation, or credits

Your indirect provider (for the CSP program) or your program distributor should be able to answer many of your questions about licensing or customer deals.

The following resources might also be of help to you.

To do this: See:
Find a partner or distributor Find a partner or solution provider to answer questions about programs, licensing, or customer deals
View CSP program pricing and offers from the Partner Center - Pricing and offers for Office 365, Dynamics CRM, Enterprise Mobility Suite, Azure, and more
- Cloud Solution Provider program guide, agreements, price lists, and offers
Get the latest updates, partner readiness materials, and marketing campaigns to help with a customer deal Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program resources
Get help from Microsoft Technical Presales and Deployment Services for a customer deal or online case - Technical presales and deployment services overview
- Technical support for on-premises or cloud products
Learn how to activate Microsoft Azure in Open Licensing Online Service Activation for Open programs FAQ
Learn how and when to calculate and request an SLA credit from Microsoft for customers affected by an outage How and when to request a credit from Microsoft
Get help from the Microsoft partner community Microsoft partner community forum

Help from Microsoft Support

Support experts are available to help you with partner program issues, presales assistance, issues with Microsoft products, billing questions, and more.

Go to Microsoft Partner support to view your support options or to start a support ticket.