Question Is my Windows Retail or OEM?

[Endre]

Hello!
I bought a Windows 10 Pro x64 Retail.
My question is: how do I check if this is true?
How do I check if it ain’t an OEM?

 

[AllanGH]

Helpful information. Thank you.

This is the legitimate and approved way the platform is transferred from one system to another.

Well, I do understand the OEM distinction, but haven't been paid to work with MS since NT4. Since I only fix problems for others, and have stuck with Linux for myself since 1993, my ms knowledge is spotty.

Knowing this will save me quite a bit of time when the inevitable hardware upgrades become unavoidable on the kids' machines.

That said, is it of advantage to make win-compatible drivers available to the system on a USB flash drive for that "first boot", since these machines were loaded from USB, or is there a more appropriate directory to locate them in for the system to pick-up on?

 

[Endre]

No one would buy that many retail licenses for use in their business and even with bulk discount you can't buy a license that cheap from Microsoft directly even if you buy a volume license for corporate use. Do you think retailers that sell the license for $100 have a 400% markup so they can sell it to you for 25 and break even? The only time I have seen a Windows license bellow 40 or 50 is when major OEMs like Dell buy them.

Not that it matters much at this point, you already got it, if it's working, good. If it stops working and Windows goes deactivated then you will know why at least.

I’m not trying to be stubborn, or anything, and your point might be true, but maybe the companies that sell OS’s that cheap, do that because otherwise they’ll remain with that plus of licenses and gain no profit out of them. For instance: I know somebody that bought a new phone with 1000 € last month, and sold it under 250 € this month, because the person needed some money immediately! Life happens the way it happens!

 

[MrLehi99]

Hello!
I bought a Windows 10 Pro x64 Retail.
My question is: how do I check if this is true?
How do I check if it ain’t an OEM?

The easiest way to find out if your installation key Is OEM is to go to Settings, About, and under Device specifications you'll see a line with your Device ID. There will be a 20 digit code with the format XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX if the last three digits of this code are OEM, you have an OEM key.

 

[USAFRet]

I’m not trying to be stubborn, or anything, and your point might be true, but maybe the companies that sell OS’s that cheap, do that because otherwise they’ll remain with that plus of licenses and gain no profit out of them. For instance: I know somebody that bought a new phone with 1000 € last month, and sold it under 250 € this month, because the person needed some money immediately! Life happens the way it happens!

1 person selling a Windows license (or phone) he no longer needs is one thing.
That person selling 1,500 of them is quite another thing.

 

[Endre]

And hwo did you obtain this from this company?

I bought it online from the most prestigious site, in my country, they wouldn’t mess with cracked OS’s!

 

[Endre]

The easiest way to find out if your installation key Is OEM is to go to Settings, About, and under Device specifications you'll see a line with your Device ID. There will be a 20 digit code with the format XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX if the last three digits of this code are OEM, you have an OEM key.

No, I just discovered through a command in Command Prompt that it’s a retail license.

 

[DSzymborski]

I bought it online from the most prestigious site, in my country, they wouldn’t mess with cracked OS’s!

I asked where you got it, not your personal description of where you got it. Not much rings those alarm bells louder than someone asking about their Windows copy and two pages in, won't answer a direct question about where they bought it.

This is very likely gray market. Gray market does not mean a cracked OS. It means keys that were legitimate at some point in some specific usage but that were sold and/or used in a manner that violated MS's licensing. Keys that aren't specifically sold by a Microsoft-authorized reseller are gray market keys and can be revoked, even if your chances of the keys being blacklisted are lower than directly stolen ones. "These were totally legitimate because we had a bunch of extra keys," is a common cover story for these because it's legitimate-sounding. Unless you actually worked for the company and know that this is what happened, you have zero idea what the source of the keys actually was.

 

[Endre]

I asked where you got it, not your personal description of where you got it. Not much rings those alarm bells louder than someone asking about their Windows copy and two pages in, won't answer a direct question about where they bought it.

This is very likely gray market. Gray market does not mean a cracked OS. It means keys that were legitimate at some point in some specific usage but that were sold and/or used in a manner that violated MS's licensing. Keys that aren't specifically sold by a Microsoft-authorized reseller are gray market keys and can be revoked, even if your chances of the keys being blacklisted are lower than directly stolen ones. "These were totally legitimate because we had a bunch of extra keys," is a common cover story for these because it's legitimate-sounding. Unless you actually worked for the company and know that this is what happened, you have zero idea what the source of the keys actually was.

Well, whatever. The site is eMAG.

 

[AllanGH]

I hope that you know that people here aren't attacking you, or your choice.
They are trying to assess your risk of losing the license activation later, and allow you to develop a realistic expectation of the situation.

You see, 60 Lei converts to $14.13 (USD) at this time, and that is the approximate proposed cost of Full-Retail Win10 Pro on eMAG, and it is a private seller through the e MAG marketplace.

A current CHEAP price for Full-Retail Win10 Pro through authorized distribution channels in the USA is $149.99--more than ten-times higher.

Can you see why there is concern for you, that you might later discover that your activation for this installation may be revoked?

 

[DSzymborski]

Oh yeah, that's totally gray market then. Emag just lists third parties selling whatever and washes their hands of the whole situation. It would be shocking if this weren't yet another misused license key. The scenario outlined above, even if true, isn't actually one authorized. Software licenses aren't like buying too many folding chairs or hats or toilet seat covers and selling the rest.

So yeah, there's a chance that this license will be revoked at some point, so always keep that in mind. It's a "good" license in that it physically works (for now). But it can be blacklisted if Microsoft gets suspicious about seeing the product key too many times, which can happen, in which case you'll need to purchase a new license.

Nobody's trying to harass you for buying a gray market license, but the truth is important - you need to know the exact situation you're in with your software license and for us to provide advice, we needed all the information. I have issues with acid reflux, which will cause me to have a higher rate of esophageal cancer than the average person as I age. Not knowing the risk or pretending that there is no risk doesn't make me any more likely to be healthy. It's the same with the software; you need to know the risks of whether your key will be revoked, not people telling you not to worry about it.

 

[AllanGH]

...it can be blacklisted if Microsoft gets suspicious about seeing the product key too many times...

From my understanding of microsoft's public authentication servers, just a second appearance of a key will cause issues; though I do not know how they might sort-out a competing claim for the same key sequence. They might just invalidate the key and refuse claims from both individuals, or allow the oldest registration of the key and deny authentication to the newer key claim.

 

[USAFRet]

These cheap grey market keys were a main contributor to MS discontinuing the TechNet program.

A small business or IT dept could buy an annual subscription, and have multiple copies of just about all MS operating systems, going back to DOS days.
These for internal testing, not for resale.

$300 initially, and maybe $200 renewal. For 20 licenses of Win 8.1. 20 licenses of Win 8. 20 licenses of Win 7, Vista, XP. Server 2012, Server 2008, Server 2003, Server Essentials, Home Server.

So there's 200 "licenses". Sell those for $30 each...Turn $300 into $6,000.
But MS can tell. The same license key activated in Boston, Bakersfield, Barcelona, Budapest...is not "internal testing".

Or buy that TechNet subscription with a stolen credit card num, and turn $20 into $6,000 laundered money.

Eventually, someone is gong to be unhappy.

 

[Endre]

These cheap grey market keys were a main contributor to MS discontinuing the TechNet program.

A small business or IT dept could buy an annual subscription, and have multiple copies of just about all MS operating systems, going back to DOS days.
These for internal testing, not for resale.

$300 initially, and maybe $200 renewal. For 20 licenses of Win 8.1. 20 licenses of Win 8. 20 licenses of Win 7, Vista, XP. Server 2012, Server 2008, Server 2003, Server Essentials, Home Server.

So there's 200 "licenses". Sell those for $30 each...Turn $300 into $6,000.
But MS can tell. The same license key activated in Boston, Bakersfield, Barcelona, Budapest...is not "internal testing".

Or buy that TechNet subscription with a stolen credit card num, and turn $20 into $6,000 laundered money.

Eventually, someone is gong to be unhappy.

The price of the OS should be different, for every country! It’s easy for an american to buy it for 200$. But how can they ask the same price to people that live in countries where the average salary for a month of work is about that amount?

 

[USAFRet]

The price of the OS should be different, for every country! It’s easy for an american to buy it for 200$. But how can they ask the same price to people that live in countries where the average salary for a month of work is about that amount?

That is entirely up to the entity that creates and owns that product - Microsoft.

 

[Endre]

That is entirely up to the entity that creates and owns that product - Microsoft.

Totally true, but they must think about this aspect too! That’s globalization: The same standards for all people! Wage differences between different parts of the World lead to overcrowd in the Western World, by migrations.

 

[DSzymborski]

Totally true, but they must think about this aspect too! That’s globalization: The same standards for all people! Wage differences between different parts of the World lead to overcrowd in the Western World, by migrations.

But again, it's Microsoft's decision, so the issue here is what is reality, not what should be reality. And in reality, you have a gray-market key, which means there's a chance Microsoft can remove your access to it. That's the answer to part of your question about your copy. And Microsoft's ability to blacklist your key remains no matter what the price of Windows in Romania is in a utopia.

And the fact remains that Windows is not food or shelter or access to emergency lifesaving medical care. There are all sorts of free options in the form of Linux distributions and they can do anything that isn't a luxury-use that Windows can.

 

[Endre]

But again, it's Microsoft's decision, so the issue here is what is reality, not what should be reality. And in reality, you have a gray-market key, which means there's a chance Microsoft can remove your access to it. That's the answer to part of your question about your copy. And Microsoft's ability to blacklist your key remains no matter what the price of Windows in Romania is in a utopia.

And the fact remains that Windows is not food or shelter or access to emergency lifesaving medical care. There are all sorts of free options in the form of Linux distributions and they can do anything that isn't a luxury-use that Windows can.

True.