{"id":62755,"date":"2025-09-03T13:58:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/?p=62755"},"modified":"2025-09-03T14:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:02:44","slug":"microsoft-windows-365-enterprise-unattended-licenses-required-for-automated-processes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/microsoft-windows-365-enterprise-unattended-licenses-required-for-automated-processes\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Windows 365 Enterprise: Unattended licenses required for automated processes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the Microsoft Licensing Terms of August 2025, Microsoft clarified that a <strong>Microsoft 365 Unattended License<\/strong> is also required for automated processes in <strong>Windows 365<\/strong> as it was already the case with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) or Windows 11 on a physical device before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-58997\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2-800x540.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2-800x540.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2-500x338.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2-150x101.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2-768x518.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2-1536x1037.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/05\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-05-30-Website-Microsoft-365-Background2.avif 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What are the license requirements for unattended or bot-driven processes?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Microsoft Licensing Terms of August 2025 state:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>If you use <strong>Microsoft 365 apps<\/strong> (such as Word, Excel, or Outlook) in <strong>Windows 365 Enterprise <span style=\"color: #993300;\">for unattended or bot-driven processes<\/span><\/strong>, you must assign a <strong>Microsoft 365 Unattended License<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Applies to existing and new customers<\/strong> if they use automation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Normal user-driven sessions remain unaffected<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What are Microsoft 365 Unattended Licenses?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Unattended licenses<\/strong> are designed for <strong>automation and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) scenarios<\/strong>, where <strong>processes run without human interaction<\/strong>. These licenses allow <strong>bots or service accounts<\/strong> to <strong>use Microsoft 365 apps<\/strong> (such as Word, Excel, or Outlook) <strong>without being tied to a named user<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>RPA<\/strong> (Robotic Process Automation) is the <strong>technology<\/strong> that automates tasks using software.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>bot<\/strong> is the <strong>tool that performs<\/strong> those tasks by mimicking user actions in applications.<\/li>\n<li>RPA defines the process; the bot executes it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bots follow rules<\/strong>, <strong>interact via the UI<\/strong>, and <strong>can&#8217;t replace software licenses<\/strong>: For example, if a bot interacts with Microsoft Excel, the <strong>device still needs a valid<\/strong> Excel <strong>license<\/strong>. You can&#8217;t use bots to bypass licensing requirements for paid software, they are just automating tasks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Use Cases<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Typical use cases include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Automate report generation in Excel<\/li>\n<li>Having an application use Microsoft Word to automatically open submitted files and extract data to a CRM application<\/li>\n<li>Schedule email responses or workflows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Does This licensing requirement only concern bot or automation scenarios?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Yes<\/strong>. The Unattended license is only required for <strong>Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or bot-driven workflows<\/strong> where Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) run without human interaction. Normal user-driven sessions on Windows 365 Enterprise do not require this license. <strong>Each unattended license<\/strong> allows <strong>automation in one (1) physical or virtual machine (OSE).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-56332\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/media\/2025\/03\/SCHNEIDER-IT-MANAGEMENT-2025-03-11-Graphics-Office-People-8633-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ensure Compliance with the help of Licensing Experts<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/contact\/\">contact your Account Manager Licensing<\/a> at SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT to ensure you are properly licensed. This is essential for staying compliant and protecting yourself in the event of an audit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the Microsoft Licensing Terms of August 2025, Microsoft clarified that a Microsoft 365 Unattended License is also required for automated processes in Windows 365 as it was already the case with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) or Windows 11 on a physical device before. &nbsp; What are the license requirements for unattended or bot-driven processes? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[496],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-windows-365"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62755"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63241,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62755\/revisions\/63241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.schneider.im\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}