When buying a Windows 10 license we can find Retail licenses and OEM licenses. It is really the same version of Windows 10, but there are some important differences between them. Do you want to know them? Keep reading our post the differences between Windows 10 OEM and Retail .
Windows 10 OEM
First we talk about Windows 10 OEM licenses. These types of licenses are aimed at equipment manufacturers , that is, companies such as Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Samsung, Xiaomi ... They are not licenses that are sold to the public, at least not directly, since it is possible to get them in many stores.
These OEM licenses have a very important feature, their installation is linked to the motherboard of the PC on which it is installed and cannot be used in any other. What does this mean? Which are licenses that can only be used on a PC . Have you bought a Windows 10 laptop and tried to use its key to activate it on another PC? You know why you couldn't do it. These licenses allow indefinite activations, but always on the same PC
Windows 10 Retail
At the other end we have the Windows 10 Retail licenses. These are the ones that many stores are sold to the public . What is its characteristic? These licenses are tied to your Microsoft user account and not to specific hardware.
This means that you can use the same Windows 10 Retail license on different PCs, but you cannot use it on several at the same time . If you want to use your Windows 10 Retail key on a different PC, you must first deactivate it from the PC where it was already activated. You cannot have your key active on two or more PCs at the same time.
Are they worth the same?
No, the price of these licenses is very different. Windows 10 Retail licenses have a starting price of approximately 70 euros in its Home version, while the Pro version can cost almost 200 euros.
By contrast, you can get Windows 10 Pro OEM keys for less than 15 euros . OEM licenses are totally legal for personal use, this means that you can use it on your home PC, but it is not legal to use it on a company PC. This means that most users can use an OEM key without any problems.