About this article: AI-assisted writing, reviewed against the cited sources. This is source research, not lab validation. Check the stated versions and your own requirements before making changes.
Before buying Remote Desktop Services licences, establish who licenses the deployment. The per-user versus per-device CAL comparison applies to a customer-licensed Windows Server RDS environment. A provider-supplied hosted service may use a different agreement, including RDS Subscriber Access Licences (SALs). Do not buy a CAL pack merely because staff use remote desktops.
Microsoft's hosted RDS roles guidance describes provider SALs covering authorised unique users each month, rather than concurrent users. That is a separate procurement model. Ask the provider or licensing partner to identify the applicable agreement, who supplies each entitlement and how people or devices are counted. This article does not assert NetLeverage's licensing terms.
Compare CALs only within the correct model
For a customer-licensed deployment, Microsoft's RDS CAL guide distinguishes per-user and per-device licensing.
| Model | Counting unit | A useful candidate when |
|---|---|---|
| Per user | Each entitled user, assigned in Active Directory | A person uses several devices and the named-user population is auditable |
| Per device | Each entitled device | Several shifts share a smaller set of workstations |
Count all access in scope, including home equipment, contractors and occasional use. A small maximum concurrent session count is not automatically the correct number of user or device entitlements. Business turnover and device churn affect record keeping, but do not change the agreement's assignment rules.
Per-user recommendations here assume an appropriate Active Directory deployment. Microsoft's domain, forest and workgroup guidance states that per-user tracking and reporting are unsupported in workgroup mode and describes the identity/trust requirements. Treat a workgroup design as a separate licensing-mode check with the partner; do not apply the AD per-user recommendation unchanged.
Issuance is not the same as ownership
The CAL guide describes a temporary per-device CAL on first sign-in, valid for 90 days, followed by permanent issuance when the conditions and available licences permit. Permanent device CAL renewal occurs on the documented 52–89-day cycle. Those technical periods are not a licence to use unlimited devices or a substitute for procurement records.
Per-user licensing can issue from an overused pool instead of preventing access. Microsoft expressly places compliance responsibility on the administrator. Successful sign-in therefore does not prove that enough licences have been purchased. Per-user entries renew on the documented 60-day cycle; the guide notes that, for most agreements, the 90-day reassignment restriction is the more relevant commercial period. Confirm exceptions and assignment rules against the actual agreement.
The documented 120-day technical grace period for a new RDS deployment is likewise not proof that all required usage rights have been acquired. Keep deployment behaviour and licence entitlement separate.
Check two different version relationships
First, the RDS CAL must support the session-host version. A Windows Server 2022 RDS CAL can access a 2022 or earlier host, but not a Windows Server 2025 host. Later-version CALs can cover earlier hosts according to Microsoft's table.
Second, the licence server must support the CAL version being installed. Microsoft's table requires the licence server to run the same Windows Server generation as that CAL or a later one. Buying 2025 CALs does not make a 2022 licence server able to host them. Plan the licence-server requirement alongside the host upgrade.
An RDS CAL is not a complete list of everything the deployment may require. Have the licensing partner confirm Windows Server access entitlements and the applications' own licences under the relevant agreement. RemoteApp and full desktop presentation do not settle those questions.
A purchase record worth keeping
Record the customer/provider licensing model, agreement, named-user or device inventory, CAL version, licence-server OS, session-host OS and owner of ongoing tracking. For shared workstations, count the devices; for per-user mode, count distinct entitled people rather than sessions. Remove shared credentials as an identity problem, not as a way to reduce licence counts.
Ask the partner to confirm the proposed entitlement list in writing before purchase. Review it when headcount, contractor access, device patterns or Windows Server versions change. No licence installation or deployment test was performed for this source-researched article, and it is not a quotation or agreement-specific legal interpretation.
Related service: ThinPoint remote access.
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