The difference between Windows 10 OEM and Retail: How to tell the difference

If you purchase a Windows 10 licence in one of the versions, you will notice that there are retail licences and OEM licences. Although they are actually the same version of Windows 10, there are differences in terms of marketing and installation. Here is the difference between Windows 10 OEM and Retail:

Windows 10 OEM

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. The characteristics are as follows:

Addressed to the manufacturers

This type of Windows licensing is aimed at the hardware manufacturers: companies like ACER, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, etc., who buy the licences in bulk to install on their own products.

Wholesale

Retail is more of a wholesale business.

Individual use

The most characteristic feature of an OEM licence is that its installation is tied to the motherboard of the computer on which it is installed and it cannot be used on any other computer. This is the biggest difference between Windows 10 OEM and Retail.

This means that if you buy a computer with Windows 10 and try to activate this product key on another laptop, you will not be able to do so.

Windows 10 Retail

On the other hand, there are the retail licences, the characteristics of which we will now discuss:

Use in conjunction with a Microsoft account

This type of licence is linked to your Microsoft account and not to a specific computer or laptop.

Sales to private individuals

They are the best known and are sold directly to the public in most office supply shops.

Simultaneous use

However, you cannot use your licence on two computers at the same time. You must deactivate it on one computer to use it on another, as they cannot be active at the same time.

Unlimited activations

This type of licence allows unlimited activations, but always on the same computer; and you can change the hardware components of that computer (RAM, graphics card) without affecting the licence.

In a nutshell

Apart from the installation, another big difference between the two is the price. The difference between Windows 10 OEM and Retail: is usually quite big, as the former is usually bought in large quantities and therefore the offers are higher.

Using an OEM licence for personal use is a new trend and completely legal. You can easily install it on your home or work computer. If you are interested in finding the best price for Windows 10 Pro Retail, you can find all the offers in our Windows section. And if you choose Licendi, you can buy Windows 10 Home Retail or Windows 10 Pro OEM.

If you already have the licence to activate your version, you can download Windows 10 Pro in the next step.

If you have any questions, please write us a comment or give us a call.

Greetings,

Your Licendi Team