Windows 10 - Retail vs OEM?

[Shaolin_K]

I have a Win 8.1 (non pro) retail key which I'm thinking of using to claim Win 10 Home.

I believe OEM keys are tied to one PC configuration, so a change in motherboard / graphics will trigger activation?

What if I activated my retail key on one PC config (say my 4690K machine), then later decided I want to it on my other G3258 PC, would this be OK? How does it work?

[kalniel]

I have a Win 8.1 (non pro) retail key which I'm thinking of using to claim Win 10 Home.

I believe OEM keys are tied to one PC configuration, so a change in motherboard / graphics will trigger activation?

What if I activated my retail key on one PC config (say my 4690K machine), then later decided I want to it on my other G3258 PC, would this be OK? How does it work?

As long as you don't run the same license on two machines at the same time you should be OK - when you move it to your G3258 you should remove it from your 4690K.

MS weren't clear about how the auto-activation works in such a case where a windows 10 upgrade was involved, suggesting you might need some MS support. License wise they seemed to indicate it was OK though (ie retail license still applies).

[EndlessWaves]

Yeah, it's never been particularly clear whether the Windows 10 upgrade applies to the licence or to the machine. It may be that if you move it to the second machine after the free upgrade period then it would only be valid as a Windows 8.1 licence.

[Ttaskmaster]

I understood Win10 was now tied to the mobo like previous OS OEMs were?

[Dashers]

The activation is tied to a particular set of hardware, but that doesn't mean you can't port that license to another computer - but you'd have to phone Microsoft to get the activation reset.

My understanding is that OEM licenses cannot be moved. If you want to port a license then you need a retail/boxed license.

Of course, with Microsoft licensing nothing is clear. I'm currently trying to port a Windows 7 license from host to a guest as per the EULA, they won't have any of it though despite part of the agreement.

[Ttaskmaster]

Actually, it sounds like the free upgrade is OEM/mobo-tied... but will work fine and auto-activate if you swap to a mobo that already has a licence of some kind associated with it (seemingly even if it's a pre-10 OS)...

[Shaolin_K]

I was thinking of applying my unused retail boxed 8.1 licence (got it cheap a while back) directly to a fresh install of Win 10.

So would you suggest installing Win 8.1 first, then upgrade to Win 10. Does it matter either way? Would all retail keys effectively become OEM when upgraded to Win 10?

Very confusing.

[kalniel]

I was thinking of applying my unused retail boxed 8.1 licence (got it cheap a while back) directly to a fresh install of Win 10.

So would you suggest installing Win 8.1 first, then upgrade to Win 10. Does it matter either way? Would all retail keys effectively become OEM when upgraded to Win 10?

Very confusing.

Unless you've got a reason to keep your old install (and DVD player isn't one of them) then I'd do a clean install and directly apply your 8.1 license to it. And no, the key should remain a retail key.

The confusion is whether MS will *automatically* allow you to apply your 8.1 key past three days time. The suggestion from support is they don't know, and you may need to ring up to do so in the future, explaining that you had already upgraded at some point within the period (which their servers should be able to show).

[cheekster]

Not sure if this article makes things any clearer?

http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/w...hange-hardware

[Kunkzi]

Can't use the key on different computer. I directly upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 without any key needed.