[SOLVED] W10 Licensing - how does the Education Edition work?

[King_V]

Ok, so I get that an OEM license for Windows 10 is tied eternally to the motherboard and cannot be moved to another PC, whereas a Retail version can be transferred to another PC.

My son's computer has the Windows 10 Education version, and his mother purchased the license because she's an employee of a school district that has that available.

If my son should ever upgrade, is this transferable the way a Retail license is?



Secondary question: with those that are transferable, is a Microsoft Account required? I have read here and there (can't recall) that an OEM license can possibly be transferred by linking it to a Microsoft Account, but does the Retail version require it for transfer?

 

[kerberos_20]

im not really sure if its transferable, education licence is part of volume licensing program
if windows licence becomes invalid, school will need to issue you new licence through VLSC

for your second question, online account is not required, but if you use it, its much easier to activate windows without key even when changing mainboard

 

[King_V]

im not really sure if its transferable, education licence is part of volume licensing program
if windows licence becomes invalid, school will need to issue you new licence through VLSC

Hmm, that's odd . . the Education license she got was purchased for $14.99, and seems, as far as we can tell, to be an individual license (full validation key and all).

Still, I guess it's something I have to consider.

 

[punkncat]

Education license is activated via the .edu (or similar) email that is used to be eligible for it, much the same way as the student version of the Office suite is. In my own experience with it, even attempting to put a 'retail' license in under change the key would not work with my sons computer using it. I had to do a full clean install.

He was at university when he had need of it and part of the package of materials and media for the school were both Education/Student versions of the MS stuff, but there were also other programs required by the school for him to have loaded that were a part of what his tuition paid for. For most of that we had to go online and create his account with a third party who presumably held and did the legwork verifying eligibility for that and then he had those few things as well. They had to be activated every quarter so was quick to "go away" out of activated and usable status.
As to the MS stuff it was validated via his .edu email that the school actually keeps active for some time even if you are not enrolled in the current semester such that if you have to wait one or two then come back it isn't some huge hassle.

 

[kerberos_20]

education licence is basicly enterprise windows version with some tweaks for school enviroment
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ustomers-bf2572aa-5555-2b1e-f7ce-81e8ba890444

it doesnt matter how much you paid, schools can get hundreds keys for few bucks...standalone key is still part of big school pack

 

[Chris.Calvo]

Secondary question: with those that are transferable, is a Microsoft Account required? I have read here and there (can't recall) that an OEM license can possibly be transferred by linking it to a Microsoft Account, but does the Retail version require it for transfer?

Microsoft account is not required to transfer a retail license, at least not the last time that I looked. OEM license keys cannot be transferred, as it is not possible from what I know to tie it to a MS account. A key is tied to the hardware in the PC (usually a HWID) and to transfer a key, you would have to make that key available by releasing it (MAKE SURE YOU WRITE IT DOWN) on the current PC, and then activating that same key elsewhere. There are tons of videos on this as well, so you can be walked through it step by step.

 

[kerberos_20]

OEM license keys cannot be transferred, as it is not possible from what I know to tie it to a MS account. A key is tied to the hardware in the PC (usually a HWID) and to transfer a key, you would have to make that key available by releasing it (MAKE SURE YOU WRITE IT DOWN) on the current PC, and then activating that same key elsewhere.

since windows 1607 you can transfer normal OEM licence same way as retail version, online account is required for OEM edition as with online account you dont use windows key, but digital licence which is tied to online account
1 digital licence per 1 PC, device management can be done in MS account settings
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665#ID0EBD=Windows_10
but this shouldnt apply to windows edu version
and it also doesnt apply to OEM editions with SLP keys in bios (like notebooks with preinstalled OS)

 

[Chris.Calvo]

since windows 1607 you can transfer normal OEM licence same way as retail version, online account is required for OEM edition as with online account you dont use windows key, but digital licence which is tied to online account
1 digital licence per 1 PC, device management can be done in MS account settings
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665#ID0EBD=Windows_10
but this shouldnt apply to windows edu version
and it also doesnt apply to OEM editions with SLP keys in bios (like notebooks with preinstalled OS)

Oops! Thank you for clearing that up!