How to get Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows Server

In fact, by enabling Extended Security Updates, organizations can extend their Windows Server support for several years, which saves money and allows time for a less-rushed migration. In this post, we will walk you through the steps to acquire and deploy ESU.

Acquiring the Extended Security Update for Windows Server

Here is the rewritten and improved paragraph:

Simplify Your ESU Management with Azure Arc

With Azure Arc, getting Extended Security Updates for your Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 machines is easy. There is no upfront cost compared to traditional licensing, and no more product key activation is required. You pay monthly, aligned with your Azure subscription.

Here are some key benefits:

• Ease of enrollment: At-scale enrollment of servers can be done using Azure Policy or direct enrollment using the intuitive Azure portal.

• Seamless connectivity: Connect both Arc enabled servers and also non-Azure servers to Azure Arc for the centralized management of ESU.

• Easy Windows Server 2012/R2 support: Enable ESUs only for those operating systems. Activation is available since September 2023.

How to Get Started with Azure Arc ESUs

1. Connect your servers: Log in to the Azure portal - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal, then search for "Servers - Azure Arc." Click to add your Windows Server 2012/R2 machines by following the prompts on the screen.

Important Note: The following section about the procurement of MAK keys is no longer relevant to the activation of Azure Arc ESU and has thus been omitted for brevity.

Delivering ESUs

We will cover the delivery of ESUs on a different page so that we can give this topic the attention it needs. Link to the ESU delivery instructions here

Enhancements:

• Better articulation of Azure Arc benefits: emphasizes the benefits of Azure Arc in the management of ESUs.

• More basic simplicity: avoids technical expressions when simpler terms can be used.

Smoothened instructions: This combines redundant information into a single point of reference for server connection.

Removed irrelevant section: This takes out an outdated section on obtaining MAK keys, which is not needed in Azure Arc ESU.

Improved flow: This will enable smooth reading and transitions between the different sections.

Hope the above rewrite goes well!

Create and manage an Azure license

To apply an Extended Security Update license to Windows Server instances that are out of date via Azure Arc and connect more than one Arc-enabled server, follow these steps: 1. Access Azure Portal Open the Azure portal by logging in using your credentials. 2. Navigate to Azure Arc Navigate to and select Azure Arc from the Azure portal.

3. Extended Security Updates: On the Azure Arc blade, search and click on the "Extended Security Updates" tab; this would list eligible resources.

4. Create License: The "Create" button starts the creation process. Fill the open fields with applicable information for your ESU license.

5. Review and Confirm: Carefully review the entered details for accuracy. Click the "Create" button again after ensuring all the details are correct. The newly created license will be listed in the Extended Security Updates tab.

This process lets you provision an ESU license in Azure Arc and then attach it with your obsolete Windows Server instances to extend their security coverage.

Connect your resources to the license just created.

Here, the above paragraph would read even better in understandable language and context as follows:

We need to extend support for our newly created license by extending the support so that it can maximize the benefits. Therefore, this will ensure our Azure Arc-enabled Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 machines continue receiving essential security updates beyond their standard end of support dates.

To enable Extended Security Updates, perform the following steps in order:

1. Open Azure Portal and then click on Extended Support Updates.

2.Click on Eligible Resources. This will list all Arc-enabled machines running Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 that are eligible for ESUs.

3. Click on Machines. Select the check boxes beside the machines you want to enable for ESUs.

4. Apply License. Click Enable ESUs, then select an applicable license to associate with selected machines.

5. View Status: Once enabled, ensure the ESU status is listed as "Enabled" within the Azure Portal for those machines.

Note: You may be eligible for no-additional-cost ESUs on development/test environments or disaster recovery instances, but that's typically contingent on already having ESUs enabled on production machines running Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2.

That's all concerning How to Update Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows Server; we hope we've been as helpful as possible to provide the updates to you ASAP.