Windows 10: OEM licensing Issue

Hi Guys !

I bought a brand new laptop which came with Win 10 Home OEM license. Now I prefer to format my laptop and do a clean installation of UBUNTU for some period. I will reinstall my windows later. In this situation, How will I get my OEM license key when I reinstall Windows after some period ? At this my point, I would like to mention my concern regarding what happened few months ago. I upgraded my OEM license - Windows 10 Home Edition which came with laptop to Windows 10 Education license which I got from My University. After some time, I tried to downgrade to Windows 10 Home using the key I retrieved via command prompt earlier when my latop installed with Windows 10 Home Edition, But I got an error message ''Invalid Key' or some thing similar.

:)

 

Windows 10 OEM Licensing

Hi

I have a few questions about windows 10 OEM licensing:

1. Is OEM licensing acceptable for business use?
2. What restrictions does OEM licensing have other than the transfer rights?
3. Can the OS be reloaded without breaching the license agreement, and if so, can I also replace the HDD with an SSD?
4. What other hardware upgrades can be done under OEM licensing?
5. What would be a breach of OEM licensing?
6. What benefits would a business get if they move to Microsoft 365 vs OEM?

Thanks in advace

 

Windows 10 Pro Retail or OEM or Volume License

Hi Raju,

This is an interesting topic. If the last three letters of your Product ID ends with
OEM, then your license was issued by manufacturer. These type of licenses cannot be transferred to another computer because it is tied up with the device itself. Otherwise, if it doesn't end with OEM, your copy of Windows is from a retail merchant.
These licenses can be transferred to another computer. Unless your device was issued by your company, or from an organization, then it could have been activated under Volume licensing.

To be sure, check the type of license you that you have by following these steps:

• Open Command Prompt (Admin).
• Type slmgr -dli and press Enter.
• It will show you a pop up box telling you what type of license you are using.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Can I run virtual windows with my OEM license?

1. Backup your Windows installation.
   
2. Uninstall Windows from your hard drive.
   
3. Install Windows in a VM.
   
4. Ensure the Windows installation has internet access.
   
5. Attempt to activate the installation. You may need to call Microsoft to complete this step over the phone.
   

If they ask you why your are re-activating, tell them you have removed the old installation and changed your system configuration and that you are now reinstalling. (All true.)

Don't volunteer that the Windows 7 key is OEM. Your Windows 10 entitlement may or may not be marked as originating from OEM. If they say that it is OEM and that you cannot use it to activate, then you know. Say thanks and end the call. Restore your backup from step 1 and stick with dual boot, or purchase a copy of Windows 10 and activate yours that way.

Of course, you could always install Hyper-V component of Windows 10 and run your Linux inside. No licensing issues that way. And it may be installed and running by default.

Also, before step 2, you might try to find some sort of P2V solution. This basically takes an 'image' of your physical system and converts it to a virtual machine. VirtualBox wiki article. This may trigger a reactivation due to the significant change in the HAL (hardware abstraction layer).