Microsoft Licensing Update January 2025

Happy New Year! Keep reading to find out what changes you can expect in Microsoft Licensing this month.

Product Terms updates

Privacy & Security terms and conditions

Microsoft moved certain sections from individual product pages to this page to allow for centralized reading of the privacy and security terms. What they did:

• Bing Maps Privacy terms were added to the Exceptions to the DPA table
• An additional table has been included with other exceptions. These products are specifically mentioned:
  • Azure FXT Server: The DPA is in effect, except for some ISO standards (as its not ISO certified) and the internet-based features are covered under the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
  • SQL Server: Same as above
  • Visual Studio Subscriptions: Same as above, with the addition that connected experiences in Visual Studio are also covered on this website.
  • Windows Desktop OS: For Windows 10/11 Enterprise, Pro, and Education editions that support a Windows diagnostic data processor configuration, Microsoft is the processor for Windows diagnostic data collected from a device where such configuration is set. When Microsoft is a controller, Microsoft handles Personal Data in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement, and the Data Protection Addendum terms do not apply.
  • Windows Multipoint Server, Windows Server Standard, Datacenter, and Essentials: Microsoft will be a controller of Personal Data processed in connection with your use of Windows Server Products. When Microsoft is a controller, Microsoft handles Personal Data in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement, and the Data Protection Addendum terms do not apply.

Note: These changes are not new. Microsoft has just centralized the privacy and security terms and they can now be found here. If you are not familiar with them, I recommend taking some time to learn more about them.

Microsoft 365

Cross-tenant User Data Migration is now also available for Educational (A-plans) and as such the availability table has been updated accordingly.

Microsoft Defender

• Defender Experts: Updated license prerequisites table. Defender for Experts has a more limited set of qualifying licenses.. Only qualifying licenses are Defender for Endpoint p2, M365 E5/A5, M365 E5/A5 Security, M365 F5 Security + Compliance and M365 F5 Security. Both products are marked with an asterisk, indicating they may not be available in all regions.
• Defender for Endpoint: Defender for Endpoint F1 and F2 have been added to the MCA availability table, so you can now purchase these through MCA-E or CSP (December 5th update).

Azure

• Azure Stack HCI renamed to Azure Local (was in a December 5th update).
• Azure AI Speech renamed to Text-To-Speech (TTS) Services. Additional clause added for (1) Customer Data send to TTS stating that you need to have the correct level of access to data that you’re using, and (2) TTS Service output use rights, this is only for customers in the paid tier and states you may use the audio output generated can be used commercially by you as the customer

Updated Policy for Unlicensed OneDrive Accounts (Effective January 27, 2025)

Beginning January 27, 2025, any OneDrive user account that remains unlicensed for more than 93 days will be subject to the following actions:

Accounts Under Retention Policies or Legal Hold

• Archiving: Unlicensed OneDrive accounts subject to a retention policy, retention period, or legal hold will be automatically archived after 93 days of license removal.
• Access Restrictions: Archived accounts will remain visible to administrators via administrative tools but will not be accessible to admins or end users. Access will remain restricted until specific actions are taken by administrators.
• Exclusions: These changes do not apply to EDU, GCC, or DoD customers.

Accounts Not Covered by Retention Policies or Legal Hold

• Deletion: Unlicensed OneDrive accounts without retention policies or legal holds will be moved to the recycle bin after 93 days of license removal.

Charges from archived accounts

Once billing for unlicensed OneDrive accounts is enabled, archived unlicensed OneDrive accounts that are not deleted will incur charges for both monthly storage and ad-hoc account reactivation. Charges are as follows:

1. Reactivation Fee: A one-time reactivation fee of $0.60/GB will apply to reactivate a specific archived account.
2. Storage Fee: From the month of reactivation onward, a monthly storage fee of $0.05/GB will apply to all archived accounts within the organization that have been unlicensed for more than 93 days.

An example scenario

For example, if an organization has 100 unlicensed OneDrive accounts, each consuming 1 TB for a total of 100 TB, and enforcement occurs between January and March 2025, the 100 unlicensed accounts are automatically archived. If the organization needs to reactivate a specific account in October 2025 and set up billing, they incur the following costs:

• A one-time reactivation fee of $0.60/GB for 1TB, totalling $614.40.
• A monthly storage fee of $0.05/GB for 100TB, amounting to $5,120/month starting from October 2025.