Amazon EVS Adds Microsoft Windows Server Licensing for VMware Cloud Deployments

Amazon Elastic VMware Service introduced Microsoft Windows Server licensing entitlements, simplifying migration of Windows Server workloads to AWS.

By Daniel Brooks · Editorial pseudonym · 2026-04-20 · 1 min read

AI-ASSISTED REPORTING · RETROSPECTIVE ARCHIVE

Retrospective edition: 2026-04-20. Source published: 2026-04-20. Added to this archive: 2026-11-03. This briefing was prepared later from the linked announcement; it was not published on this website on the historical edition date.

Amazon EVS allows running VMware Cloud Foundation on AWS bare-metal EC2 instances. The new feature enables customers to entitle their Windows Server VMs with Microsoft licenses directly through the Amazon EVS console or CLI, billed per vCPU-hour.

This integration supports rapid migration from on-premises data centers by eliminating infrastructure aging and operational risks. Users can add or remove license entitlements flexibly to manage costs as workloads evolve. The licensing option is available across all AWS Regions offering EVS.

Source & further reading

Amazon EVS now offers Microsoft Windows Server Licensing ↗

Source published 2026-04-20. This report was prepared with AI assistance from the linked primary-source material. Claims and limitations should be checked against the original announcement or research.