Hello –

I searched the forum threads, but didn’t find a relevant case for our situation, which I think is pretty basic. We are a library that offers 14 Windows 7 Pro machines for public use. These are off-the-shelf Dells with no special licensing package from Microsoft. As the workstations are in constant use, bits and pieces of the software package invariably break, meaning that we are spending lots of time fixing individual computers. We would like to make an image backup of each unit, and have the ability to restore each computer in the event of a failure, with the ability to also update each image as the operating system and software applications are updated.

Since we are a government institution, we play by the rules, but in this case we are unsure of the rules surrounding one-to-one backup and restore over a network using software such as FOG. Does anyone have a documented answer as to whether or not we need to pay a special license fee to Microsoft if we re-image a Windows 7 backup of the original computer over a network?

Thanks in advance,

Darrell Eifert
Head of Public Services
Lane Memorial Library