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I'm going to be migrating my SBS 2008 server to SBS 2011. The old server is a physical machine that I'd like to make use of as a file server. Once the migration is complete, can I just reinstall the server stopping before the SBS installation? I also have the premium add-on for the 2008 SBS. I'm looking for whether the license allows this.

Andy
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No you cannot install SBS 2008 without the SBS parts. You cannot stop the install before the server "becomes and SBS server." It's SBS or nothing. As for the additional Server 2008 license that came as part of the premium add-on, no the license does not transfer between SBS environments. When you upgrade to SBS 2011, the bridge is burned with the SBS 2008 licenses and they cannot be interspersed with eachother. However, ServerFault is not intended for license recommendations, we are not lawyers, and any advice given in that regard is merely friendly suggestions.

Contact your VAR or Microsoft directly with any licensing questions.

Wesley
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  • Do you have any sources for your answer? – Andy Dec 12 '13 at 02:48
  • @Andy As for not being able to stop a SBS installation and only installing the server, that's just implied in the Microsoft documentation for how to install SBS. I have heard of someone hacking a way to get it done, but that's unreliable and outside of the unsupported way to use the product. The licensing will need to be verified between you and your VAR as handing out strict licensing advice is... legally sketchy. – Wesley Dec 12 '13 at 04:13
  • FYI, I did find this about the second server license. Since its direct from MS, I think we can safely assume there's nothing sketchy about the answer (which is you lose the license to the second server once SBS 2008 is gone): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd469604(v=ws.10).aspx `You cannot use it as a standalone operating system that is not joined to the Windows SBS 2008 domain or promote it as the domain controller of a new domain in the Active Directory forest.` – Andy Dec 12 '13 at 15:21