Nowadays, most of these licenses are embedded in the BIOS or UEFI firmware. OEM or Original Equipment Manufacturer means your copy of Windows came installed on your computer and is licensed only to that computer for its lifespan.

Retail Windows can be transferred and activated to another computer but only assigned to one computer at any time. So, what are the differences between Retail, OEM, or Volume?Ī retail license means you purchased Windows either online or at a store, and you should have a physical copy. A partial product key will also be displayed and whether it is licensed. You should see what edition you have (Home, Pro), and the second line will tell you if you have Retail, OEM, or Volume. Wait a few seconds for the Windows Script Manager to appear and tell you which license type you have. There are a few possible commands depending on whether you use PowerShell, Command Prompt, or Windows Terminal: TIP: Hard to fix Windows Problems? Repair/Restore Missing Windows OS Files Damaged by Malware with a few clicksįinding out which type you have is easy to do, so let's get that out of the way.

Windows 10 retail