WS2016 ESU Edition Pricing

Question

WS2016 ESU Edition Pricing

Murray Pilfold 0

We have recently received pricing for WS2016 ESU and the difference between Standard and Datacentre editions is significant. As most Azure images are Datacentre by default and this extra bits are never actually used, is it possible to change the edition using DISM? I have done this on-premises with no issues, but never in Azure. If so, which key should be used?

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Answer 1

Scott Nguyen 2,135 Independent Advisor

Hi Murray,

In this case I would say no, changing Windows Server 2016 Datacenter to Standard using DISM is not supported, whether the server is running on-premises or in Azure. Microsoft supports edition conversion from Standard to Datacenter, but not the reverse, so there is no product key that would make this a supported downgrade. You can confirm this by running DISM /Online /Get-TargetEditions, which will not list ServerStandard as an available target on a Datacenter installation.

For Azure VMs, Microsoft does not provide Windows Server 2016 Standard images through the Azure Marketplace; deploying Standard requires a custom image. However, if these servers are running as native Azure VMs, you should not need to purchase Windows Server 2016 ESUs, as eligible Azure-hosted VMs receive ESUs at no additional charge after support ends on January 12, 2027

For more information, you could access to these website:
Plan your Windows Server upgrade
Prepare to deliver Extended Security Updates for Windows Server

Murray Pilfold 0 Reputation points

2026-10-08T11:15:50.69+00:00

Unfortunately Microsoft are not providing free ESU in Azure this time (although information is hard to come by). We have receive a direct quote of around £7 per 2 cores for Standard and over £40 per 2 cores for Datacenter, hence the question about DISM.
Scott Nguyen 2,135 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-08T11:29:28.3833333+00:00

That's a pretty big price gap. But still, there is no supported in-place downgrade from Windows Server 2016 Datacenter to Standard, even on Azure VMs. Moving to Standard would require a fresh installation and migration of the existing workloads.