Microsoft Windows 365 Business 4 vCPU, 16 GB, 256 GB Subscription (12 Months)

This Configuration

Licensing and Limits

Backup and Restore Points

What Happens When the Subscription Ends

What Microsoft Does Not Publish for This Product

The following are commonly asked about but are not stated on any current official Microsoft source for this product, so SourceIT does not quote them: a minimum seat count, any annual or twelve-month term on its public pricing pages, a guaranteed country for a Windows 365 Business Cloud PC, an uptime or service level figure for Windows 365 and a Windows 365 compared with Azure Virtual Desktop feature table. We would rather leave a field blank than print a figure we cannot substantiate.

SourceIT sells this as a twelve-month subscription with a GST invoice in Singapore. The subscription is a right to use the service for the term, not a perpetual licence: when the term ends the entitlement ends unless it is renewed.

Microsoft's own public Windows 365 pricing pages publish only a monthly, auto-renewing subscription — the twelve-month term is a partner purchasing construct, not a Microsoft-published retail term, and this page does not present it as one. Ask our team to confirm the commitment, renewal and mid-term change terms in writing with your quotation. Microsoft's lifecycle page places Windows 365 under the Modern Lifecycle Policy, with a start date of 2 August 2021 and a status of "In Support"; no retirement date is published. There is a second, shorter clock that catches people out, and it is separate from the subscription lifecycle. If a licence is unassigned from a user, or the user is removed from the provisioning policy while the subscription is still live, Microsoft moves that Cloud PC into a seven-day grace period: "the user can continue using the Cloud PC for seven days. After the seven-day grace period expires, the user is logged off the Cloud PC. They'll lose access and the Cloud PC will be deprovisioned." An administrator can end it early, and Microsoft's warning is blunt: "Ending the grace period is a destructive action. The Cloud PC, operating system, and user data are permanently deleted." Before you commit to a term, know what cancellation actually does. Microsoft publishes that on early cancellation the subscription "moves directly to Disabled stage (90 days)", the "Cloud PC is immediately deprovisioned" and "Data within the Cloud PC is deleted immediately". There is no thirty-day window and no seven-day grace on that path. Tenant-level customer data is retained for the 90-day Disabled window and "will be deleted no later than 180 days after cancellation". Back up anything that matters before you cancel, and talk to us first — there is usually a better-shaped answer than cancelling mid-term.

Talk to our team before the renewal date rather than after it. Seat counts, mid-term changes and co-terming with the rest of your Microsoft estate are all easier to arrange in advance, and we can quote the alternatives if a bundle would work out better for you.

Published Lifecycle Dates

Support and Entitlement Position

This is a software subscription, not hardware. It carries no hardware warranty, and any warranty term you see on a hardware listing does not apply here. What you are buying is a twelve-month right to use the service, together with SourceIT's local support in Singapore. Microsoft's own condition is that technical and billing support for a subscription bought through a partner runs through that partner, so for this subscription that means us: raise the ticket with SourceIT and we escalate to Microsoft where it needs to go. Renewal, seat changes and co-terming are handled on your SourceIT account. Ask our team for the current entitlement position in writing with your quotation.

Data residency is the one thing Windows 365 Business cannot promise you, and it matters in Singapore. Microsoft: "Windows 365 Business Cloud PCs are created in a location based on the billing address country/region of your organization" — but then, explicitly, "The billing address country/region doesn't mean that the Cloud PC will necessarily reside in that country/region. Cloud PCs are created in the nearest supported location with available capacity. This location may or may not be the billing address country/region." There is no region selector on Business. If your organisation has a hard data-residency requirement, Windows 365 Enterprise is the edition that lets you choose the region, and we will quote it for you.

Microsoft 365 Apps are pre-installed but not licensed by this subscription, and one common licence will not activate them. Microsoft lists Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise among the apps "pre-installed on Windows 365 Business Cloud PCs when they're created", and warns that a user on Microsoft 365 Business Standard may see: "Account Issue: The products we found in your account cannot be used to activate Office in shared computer scenarios." Office activation on a Cloud PC needs a licence with shared computer activation rights. Send us your Microsoft 365 plan and we will check it before you order.

Restore points are included and fixed. Microsoft: "Short-term restore points are saved every 12 hours. Each Cloud PC will have 10 short-term restore points saved at these intervals", plus "four long-term restore points ... saved every seven days", with the oldest of each type dropping off as new ones are added. The intervals are not configurable on Business; Enterprise lets an administrator choose 4, 6, 12, 16 or 24 hours.

What Business Includes and What It Does Not

• What is Windows 365? (Microsoft Learn)
• Compare Windows 365 Business and Enterprise (Microsoft Learn)
• Get started with Windows 365 Business (Microsoft Learn)
• Windows 365 Business sizing options (Microsoft Learn)
• Windows 365 Business Cloud PC location (Microsoft Learn)
• Restore points for Windows 365 Business (Microsoft Learn)
• Installing apps on Windows 365 Business Cloud PCs (Microsoft Learn)
• Assign and unassign a Windows 365 Business licence (Microsoft Learn)
• What happens to my data and access when my Windows 365 subscription ends? (Microsoft Learn)
• Windows 365 service description (Microsoft Learn)
• Windows 365 lifecycle (Microsoft Learn)
• Modern Lifecycle Policy (Microsoft Learn)

Where a figure appears on this page it is quoted from one of these Microsoft pages; where Microsoft publishes nothing, this page says so rather than filling the gap. Supplied by SourceIT in Singapore with a GST invoice and local support. For a written quotation, current stock position or delivery lead time, contact our team.

How many users can we have on Windows 365 Business?

Up to 300 in the tenant. Microsoft's comparison states Business is "Capped to 300 users per tenant" while Enterprise has "No user per tenant limit". The cap is on the tenant, so splitting the order does not get round it. If you are close to 300, ask us to price Enterprise alongside.

Can we guarantee our Cloud PCs stay in Singapore?

Not on Business. Microsoft states that Business Cloud PCs "are created in a location based on the billing address country/region" but then that the billing country "doesn't mean that the Cloud PC will necessarily reside in that country/region" — they go to "the nearest supported location with available capacity". There is no region selector. Windows 365 Enterprise does let you pick the region, and Microsoft maps Singapore to the Southeast Asia Azure region. If residency is a requirement, ask us for Enterprise.

Do we need a separate Windows licence or an Azure subscription?

No, on both counts. Microsoft: "There are no licensing prerequisites to set up Windows 365 Business. There are no dependencies on Azure or Active Directory." That is the main practical difference from Enterprise, which requires a Windows Enterprise licence, a Microsoft Intune licence and Microsoft Entra ID P1 per user.

Will our Microsoft 365 licence activate Office on the Cloud PC?

It depends which one you have, and this is a common surprise. Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise is pre-installed on the Cloud PC but is not licensed by this subscription. Microsoft warns that a Microsoft 365 Business Standard user may see "Account Issue: The products we found in your account cannot be used to activate Office in shared computer scenarios." You need a licence with shared computer activation rights. Send us your Microsoft 365 plan and we will check it.

What happens to the Cloud PC if we cancel?

It is destroyed straight away. Microsoft publishes that on early cancellation the "Cloud PC is immediately deprovisioned" and "Data within the Cloud PC is deleted immediately", with the subscription skipping the Expired stage and going to Disabled for 90 days. Tenant-level customer data is deleted "no later than 180 days after cancellation". Back up anything that matters first, and talk to us before cancelling — there is usually a better option.