Best place to purchase WSE 2012 R2

Buying it OEM from places like Amazon, Newegg and Tiger Direct is going to be your best option.

There are many shady sites that sell volume licensed keys for super cheap, but that's not legal by any means. Plus if/when the key gets canceled you are hosed.
 
CDW typically has the best prices I have found. If you work for a company, you can get a rep who will usually quote you better prices than the site. Plus they will match/beat competitor prices. We always go to them for a quote on software licenses (and hardware as well), and they usually come out quite a bit cheaper. Plus they will work to get financing on the order as well, which helps when purchasing 50k in licenses....
 
Yes, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
Just for home use, I already have it installed and it seems to be good to go, so time to purchase a license to stop it nagging me.

ManofGod said:
www.buycheapsoftware.com This is a legitimate site.
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Are you kidding me?

trick0502 said:
for home use/testing? got a student in the family?

https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/Software-Catalog.aspx
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No students, my mom works at a college and has a college email. I don't see it listed there anyways though only regular server 2012.
 
Justintoxicated said:
Just for home use, I already have it installed and it seems to be good to go, so time to purchase a license to stop it nagging me.



Are you kidding me?



No students, my mom works at a college and has a college email. I don't see it listed there anyways though only regular server 2012.
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Nope, I am not kidding you. That is a legitimate site that we purchase software from all the time. Perhaps you should look it up first? Oh, and feel free to check it out or not, either way, it is not my money being spent in this instance.
 
I don't think it's cool to promote Dreamspark license use in a manner that is clearly against the licensing terms. That's what got Technet shut down, now you are working on having Dreamspark shut down as well.

If you want to use the software then pay the fuck up or install LOLnix instead.
 
Thuleman said:
I don't think it's cool to promote Dreamspark license use in a manner that is clearly against the licensing terms. That's what got Technet shut down, now you are working on having Dreamspark shut down as well.

If you want to use the software then pay the fuck up or install LOLnix instead.
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Actually, I would be more inclined to say that what got TechNet shut down is the retards that were selling the license keys they got on TechNet.
 
True. Dreamspeak is for students and faculty for their own personal use. And some can be used after you're a student or faculty member. Nothing in the terms say you can't have your son play with the software either. But please, for the love of deity, don't use it for commercial use or make money from the use of said software. Wanna play around for certifications or getting familiar? Great. Wanna set up your own server for whatever at home? Great. Please don't ruin it for the rest of us.
 
Kai said:
True. Dreamspeak is for students and faculty for their own personal use. And some can be used after you're a student or faculty member. Nothing in the terms say you can't have your son play with the software either. But please, for the love of deity, don't use it for commercial use or make money from the use of said software. Wanna play around for certifications or getting familiar? Great. Wanna set up your own server for whatever at home? Great. Please don't ruin it for the rest of us.
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OP clearly stated (message #9) home use, if that was who you were aiming that all at. ;)

But as a blanket statement, yeah, abuse of this stuff is no bueno, bad juju and just plain wrong.
 
Kai said:
True. Dreamspeak is for students and faculty for their own personal use.
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The above may lead to the perception that perpetual home use is OK. Dreamspark is not intended for home use. The spirit of the program is that you get the software for free at school, you learn it, and when you start working your employer buys it because you already have the skills.

For faculty/staff it's to help them learn the software so they can teach it at institutions that teach courses like that.

ir0nw0lf said:
OP clearly stated (message #9) home use, if that was who you were aiming that all at. ;)
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And home use the way the OP intends to run it is clearly not part of the Dreamspark EULA:

b. Installation and Use Rights.
You may install and use two (2) copies of the DreamSpark Direct Subscription software on your devices (a) to support your education; (b) in non-commercial research; or (c) to design, develop, test, and demonstrate software programs for the above purposes. The DreamSpark Direct Subscription and software are personal to you and may not be shared, transferred, resold, assigned or used to develop or maintain your own administrative or IT systems.

c. Using Windows Desktop Operating Systems.
Your DreamSpark Direct Subscription includes certain Windows operating system products. You may install these products only on a computer that is already licensed to run a full version of a Windows operating system on it, as evidenced by a valid Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for a Windows operating system affixed to the computer.
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source: https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/Direct-EULA.aspx

While one could argue that all home use furthers learning it's not in the spirit of the Dreamspark program to provide people with free perpetual use licenses to avoid paying MS. Also, in this specific case, even if a parent has access to the Dreamspark program, that license cannot be transferred to the child.
 
Thuleman said:
The above may lead to the perception that perpetual home use is OK. Dreamspark is not intended for home use. The spirit of the program is that you get the software for free at school, you learn it, and when you start working your employer buys it because you already have the skills.

For faculty/staff it's to help them learn the software so they can teach it at institutions that teach courses like that.



And home use the way the OP intends to run it is clearly not part of the Dreamspark EULA:


source: https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/Direct-EULA.aspx

While one could argue that all home use furthers learning it's not in the spirit of the Dreamspark program to provide people with free perpetual use licenses to avoid paying MS. Also, in this specific case, even if a parent has access to the Dreamspark program, that license cannot be transferred to the child.
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So I'll give the server to my Mom then and she can activate the license, but I'm sure she will want to keep it at my house because it will take up too much space ;)

MS really is charging too much for WSE2012, too bad they no longer support proper home servers, cause that's what I really need. Actually I'm thinking about ditching WSE 2012, the whole reason I wanted it was for the ability to do nightly backups, and that it has a console I can access from other PCs like my WHS v1. But it appears I cannot backup to my Stable bits storage pool and it forces a maximum drive size of 2TB for backups. That means if I have a 4TB drive on my gaming PC I can't backup that drive using WSE anyways which is quite ridiculous IMO, and for $400 dollars I'm not sure it's worth having nightly backups anymore.

It's too bad WHS V1 can't support larger hard drives because it did NOT have this limitation :(
 
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Thuleman said:
Acronis True Image will back up any desktop OS any which way you like (even image based) for $29 (sale ends today afaik).
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That's complete images images though not incremental right? Complete 4TB images over the network every night would really suck. Also last time I installed acronis it screwed up windows 7's ability to create a restore image permanently (have to reinstall windows to fix it) and this was a known issue.
 
Thuleman said:
The above may lead to the perception that perpetual home use is OK. Dreamspark is not intended for home use. The spirit of the program is that you get the software for free at school, you learn it, and when you start working your employer buys it because you already have the skills.

For faculty/staff it's to help them learn the software so they can teach it at institutions that teach courses like that.



And home use the way the OP intends to run it is clearly not part of the Dreamspark EULA:


source: https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/Direct-EULA.aspx

While one could argue that all home use furthers learning it's not in the spirit of the Dreamspark program to provide people with free perpetual use licenses to avoid paying MS. Also, in this specific case, even if a parent has access to the Dreamspark program, that license cannot be transferred to the child.
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(b) in non-commercial research;

The above doesn't specify what exactly non-commercial research entails, therefore using it to set up a home server could be considered non-commercial research.

Also, furthermore, the terms state;

2. TERMS FOR DREAMSPARK DIRECT SUBSCRIPTION.
a. DreamSpark Direct Subscription.
Subject to the terms of this agreement, the DreamSpark Direct Subscription provides a subscription to access software. Microsoft may change the software or other offerings that it makes available under the DreamSpark Direct Subscription at any time without prior notice to you.
b. End of Student Status.
The DreamSpark Direct Subscription is a special offering for students. Once you no longer qualify for the DreamSpark Direct Subscription (due to graduation or otherwise no longer meeting the definition of "you" above), your DreamSpark Direct Subscription will terminate; however, you may continue to use the software you obtained prior to termination of your student status subject to the terms of this agreement.
c. Termination.
Microsoft may terminate the entire DreamSpark program or your specific DreamSpark Direct Subscription at any time without prior notice to you for any reason or no reason.

Meaning you can continue to use the software you obtained after you no longer meet the requirements for a Dreamspark subscription. But must still comply with the rules and regulations. Namely, nothing commercial. Home research can be defined as many different things and could be argued in court as such. So just don't sell anything or use it in a way that others benefit aside from your own family, and you're okay.

I forgot to add, that in legal speak, if it's not explicitly and specifically included, you can do it. That doesn't make it ethical, however.
 
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Justintoxicated said:
That's complete images images though not incremental right? Complete 4TB images over the network every night would really suck. Also last time I installed acronis it screwed up windows 7's ability to create a restore image permanently (have to reinstall windows to fix it) and this was a known issue.
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Not sure, but I think you can set it to incrementally update those images though.
 
Kai said:
(b) in non-commercial research;

The above doesn't specify what exactly non-commercial research entails, therefore using it to set up a home server could be considered non-commercial research.
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Not if you use the OS in perpetuity, and not if the DS account holder gives it to a family member for said "research".

Kai said:
Home research can be defined as many different things and could be argued in court as such. So just don't sell anything or use it in a way that others benefit aside from your own family, and you're okay.

I forgot to add, that in legal speak, if it's not explicitly and specifically included, you can do it. That doesn't make it ethical, however.
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Most of us are probably not lawyers, but one doesn't have to be a lawyer to figure out that even the notion of arguing anything in court against Microsoft is just crazy talk.

There is likely a pretty good definition of what research is and what actions have to be taken for any activity to legally count as research. Just using the software is guaranteed to not qualify as research, so you better have binders and binders full of research notes, hypothesis, lab reports, metadata, and all the other shit you will need if you want to tell the court that the software you use to run your media center is the subject of perpetual research.

Using Dreamspark licenses as proposed in this thread is neither in compliance with the license terms, nor the spirit of the agreement. When one is in school none of that may matter to one, all one sees is "free" software. But at some point most people grow up and realize that license agreement compliance matters.
 
I've actually had good luck on eBay for WSE 2012 and R2. Just gotta always read the fine print. Got full retail versions of each, cheaper than retail.
 
This thread bums me out. I was interested in using my DreamSpark to install WSE 2012, to learn the operating system but provide some network services at home (backup, etc). However:

DreamSpark EULA said:
b. Installation and Use Rights.
You may install and use two (2) copies of the DreamSpark Direct Subscription software on your devices (a) to support your education; (b) in non-commercial research; or (c) to design, develop, test, and demonstrate software programs for the above purposes. The DreamSpark Direct Subscription and software are personal to you and may not be shared, transferred, resold, assigned or used to develop or maintain your own administrative or IT systems.
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That looks fairly clear. Bummer. Guess I'll just have to use it in a VM to learn stuff with.
 
So If WSE 2012 R2 is too cost prohibitive would Win8.1 and Stablebit be a viable alternative for media storage, file server, etc..
 
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