Using Windows Server 2012 per-User RDS CAL on Server 2008 R2 Session Host

Question

I have a Remote Desktop Licensing Server setup on my domain controller running Windows Server 2012 R2. I have installed a
’Windows Server 2012 Remote Desktop Services per-User CAL’ there and activated the licensing server already.
Currently I use ONLY Windows Server 2008 R2 machines as RDS Session Hosts (in the future I plan to transition them to 2012 R2, hence the CAL I bought is
already in the newest version).
I have already configured my WS 2008 RDS Session Hosts: set
Per-User licensing mode and specified license server address. The connectivity between my Session Host(s) and my License Server seems to be ok as the
Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration window on the Session Host correctly lists the 2012 per-user
license (CAL installed on server) from the license server.
On the License Server I can also see event logs entries (in
Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-Licensing/Admin), indicating that the user has been issued a license.
The issue I am having is that the license being issued is
2008 Per User CAL license (Build-in OverUsed - temporary) and not the 2012 Per User CAL license which is the only license installed on the server. According to the RDS CAL interoperability matrix at
social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/14988.rds-and-ts-cal-interoperability-matrix.aspx, I was expecting the 2012 license to be backward-compatible with 2008 client (and that
in the absence of legacy licenses, the (only) 2012 license would be used for all clients connecting to the licensing server)
Before I bought my license, I found this document: 
download.microsoft.com/download/3/D/4/3D42BDC2-6725-4B29-B75A-A5B04179958B/WindowsServerRDS_VLBrief.pdf 
which says that - "newer version RDS CALs can be used with an older version of the server software" (In section FAQ, Q4), which means to me that
the 2012 license would work as-is for the 2008 Server and gives me flexibility when upgrading to the new server version.
How can I make this CAL work in my environment? 
Note:
I have already explicitly disabled
Prevent license upgrade Group Policy setting which I assumed would fix the issue but nothing has changed.
Then I have enabled License server security group Group Polity setting
and added computers from my domain to RDS Endpoint Servers AD group. I have also created new AD group called
Terminal Server Computers and added the computer accounts there, but it changes
nothing. Reference - technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee791761.aspx , technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725704.aspx and blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2009/09/17/control-the-issuance-of-rds-cals.aspx.
I found one potential ‘workaround’ which involved manually downgrading my CAL license by calling
Microsoft Clearinghouse. I am very reluctant do to so because, as I upgrade parts of my infrastructure to Server 2012, I’d need to then ask Microsoft to manually upgrade a part of my license back as well.
Am I missing something? What should I do to get my 2012 CAL to be issued to 2008 R2 server

Answer 1

Hi, I have tried several other possibilities.
I change expire date for my temporary assigned license (2008 CAL overused). It can be done, by changing Active Directory user properties – msTSExpireDate. When I restart my Session Host server and logged again, my license was renewed
for next 60 days (event ID - 4145).
I also delete information about license for this user (clear msTSExpireDate and msTSLicenseVersion). And the license was successfully removed from License Manager. After another SH restart it gets the same – 2008 overused – license
(event ID 4143 - license server has successfully issued …)
I now, that changing info in AD attributes is a little trick, and this is not a real value - only a reference, but it was useful to delete or change expiration date of license. But it didn’t change type of license as I expected.
Reference -
http://discussions.citrix.com/topic/243320-windows-2008-licensing-questions/
To TP:
I have found your post with information:
If you have a Server 2012 RD Licensing server you may install your 2012 RDS CALs on it (no downgrade necessary) and then set your Server 2008 R2 RDSH to
use the 2012 RDL server.  The 2012 RD Licensing server will automatically issue the CALs as 2008. -
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/6046ded1-96bf-4d79-89ce-38aac2a6694e/can-we-use-windows-server-2012-rds-cal-license-in-rds-2008-r2-server?forum=winserverTS
And it showing my situation in brief. I also found
similar problems, but the solutions don’t meet my expectations.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/dcfb1966-89a8-4b5d-bf5a-ff03ac0b7a66/rds-cal-licenses-not-recognized?forum=winserverTS
– “sudden all of the CALS were available”
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/f1228599-8452-4a3e-a263-061de14bfcfe/server-2012-rds-builtin-overused-cals-issue?forum=winserverTS
– “this should go away after a while”
Is there a way to determine this time you mentioned before? Or should I just wait patiently…