Windows OEM versions. You may have seen it before,
maybe you've even bought a copy or two. I have a version of Windows 11 OEM right here, but what
actually is the difference? I've seen a lot of talk online that has some theories, like you don't
get support with Windows OEM and the manufacturer has to do it, but it turns out that that seems to
not really be the case. There's not as big of a difference as you might think, but it's a bit more
nuanced than that. That's what we're going to talk about. Now, the first thing to understand is that
Windows OEM, which stands for "original equipment manufacturer," is not actually an edition of
Windows. It's a type of license for Windows. There's OEM versions of all the editions of
Windows: Pro, Home, whatever. And this is opposed to the retail version of the license, also
called the "full packaged product, if you're being technical. And if you're wondering right off the
bat, whether or not your version of Windows is OEM or retail, you can actually use a command in the
command prompt to show this. If you type in "slmgr /dli", it will pop up this little thing. It'll say
the name of the edition of Windows. In my case, it's Professional For Workstations. And in the
description, you can see mine says retail channel, for example. Now, if you have an OEM version
of Windows, that likely means that you bought a prebuilt computer, like most people do. The OEM
versions of Windows basically just means that it's not sold directly to the consumer. Like you'd
go to, I don't know, Staples or Newegg and buy like the Windows box, if they're even in a box
anymore. That's like the retail copy. And then the OEM version is meant to be for system builders
who like actually build the computers. And then they put that on the computer. However, you can
still, if you're building your own computer, buy an OEM version as well. That's what I did.
And it's usually a bit cheaper, that's one of the differences. So why don't we go over some of
the other differences, including that. So what are these differences? Well, first of all, if you buy
the OEM version of Windows, it's not going to come in a nice box. It's going to come in like a basic
sleeve looking like this because it's not really meant to be bought by a consumer. It's meant to be
bought in bulk. So the packaging is not exactly a priority. We'll take a closer look at this though
later. The wording and stuff on the outside is actually important. Also, the OEM version is going
to be cheaper. If you look at the Newegg pricing, and these are actually sold by Newegg, so it's not
a third party seller. You can see that the retail version of Windows 11 Home is $139, whereas
the OEM is actually $120 or $130. Strangely, the physical version is actually $10 cheaper than
the digital. I don't know why that is. It's the same thing for the pro version of Windows 11
retail. That's $200 and the OEM pro is $160 or $170, depending on whether it's physical or
digital. Now, will it have any less bloatware? Not really. It's actually the exact same contents
of the installation disk. Now, you might get a different version of the installation in terms of
OEM if you get it from a manufacturer like Dell or Asus or something. They might actually give you an
OEM disk that installs an OEM version of Windows, but it's plus all their stuff that they add into
it. So it's not a clean OEM version. If you just go and buy directly a blank OEM disk, it's going
to be exactly the same as if you bought it retail in terms of what actually comes with it. So
the OEM version doesn't inherently have any less bloatware or more. That's also why if you do
buy a prebuilt computer or a laptop or something, it usually comes with a branded copy of the
Windows installer disk. And again, that comes with any proprietary special drivers or something,
or just special bloatware that is specific for that brand on that computer. Another significant
difference that does seem to be the case is that you're more restricted in transferring the license
or the installation from one computer to another. So with the retail version, it seems like if you
basically wipe the computer, you can move that license key to another computer as long as you
stop using it on the other one. Whereas with OEM, it's basically tied to that specific hardware,
the motherboard in particular. So you might have a hard time moving it. You might be able to get
it to work, but technically you're not really supposed to. And finally, the big difference
that I've seen a lot of people say, and if you go online and search "what's the difference between
OEM and retail versions of Windows," this is the one you're always going to see. And that is that
with OEM, you don't get support from Microsoft. But I was wondering about that because I
couldn't actually find any official page on any of Microsoft's websites or even on their
support pages that mentioned OEM. So I'm like, "is this one of those things that just so many
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the description. And with all that being said, let's continue. Okay, so is it actually true
that you don't get support with the OEM version of Windows? And I was actually interested
because I usually do buy the OEM version, because I never contact Microsoft support. Because
the way I see it, if I can't figure something out myself from looking it up online, asking questions
and that sort of thing, there's no way that any customer support rep is going to be able to help
me any more than that. And they're probably just going to end up recommending to reset the PC,
which is effectively like reformatting it, which is probably what I would do anyway. So I don't
need Windows support. But you might be wondering, wait a minute, what is Windows support? Have
many of you even ever thought to contact Windows Microsoft support with a problem with your
computer? But actually Microsoft does have direct support that you can access. One way is through
the "Get Help" app. I believe it's pre-installed in Windows 11 at least. And I actually was like,
"well you know what, let's try it out." I'll go on here and ask the customer service rep, what is
the difference between the OEM and the retail? So you basically just put in a question and then
you can click the contact support and there's a few options for a dropdown and then it connects
you. It actually opens up a website like a chat window. And I simply asked what's the difference
between OEM and retail. He gave me the first canned response talking about, "Oh it's for device
manufacturers, blah, blah, blah." But I wanted to know the difference. I said something like, "I
heard that there's a difference in support." And then he actually got back to me and said that
no, there's actually no difference in support. You can still get support if you have an OEM
version. Now again, I didn't know if that was 100% accurate. That might just be something that
they say automatically, but I don't think that they have some checker on their end of the system,
or I don't think the app checks, "oh well, you're not allowed to contact support because you have an
OEM version." I mean, imagine if that was a thing, where the Get Help app, which is pre-installed in
Windows, if you try to run it and most people do have an OEM version if they bought a computer
prebuilt from a manufacturer, and most people can't even use the app and it tells them they
can't? I don't see that as happening. So I was like, there's something not lining up with what
everyone is saying in terms of not being able to get support and the reality that I'm seeing. So I
was searching all over Microsoft's help pages and any licenses I could find talking about support
specifically. And I really came down to two main documents. One is the one that's actually built
into Windows. It's in the license.rtf file in the system directory. We're going to look at that in
a second, it's very relevant. And then there is actually the OEM license, which funny enough is
right on the card or envelope that you get when you buy the OEM version. The license is right
here. And I could not actually find this online. Like it's only on here. You can technically
sign up to be a device partner with Microsoft, but that's a whole thing. And I think you actually
have to be a legit company to do that. So it's not really public, but this is right here anyway.
So it doesn't really matter. Anyway, if we do go and look at the license files that come with
Windows, you have one on your computer right now of course. You probably agreed to it at some point
without remembering it, but there it is. Anyway, it's going to appear in several places. So one
is right in the system32 directory. It's called license.rtf and also several other places in there
in subdirectories. So also in system32/licenses, there's a directory with some stuff we can look
at and then system32/en-US, or whatever language you're using, and then licenses. And I noticed
in the licenses folder, the higher level one, it just has a folder called neutral. And then
within there, there were three folders called default, OEM, and Volume. And interestingly, the
English en-US/licenses directory seems to have the same folder structure. It's like exactly the
same stuff. Now, the one that talks about Windows IoT Enterprise, that's for like Internet of Things
devices, that's irrelevant here. There's also one for volume pricing, but you open that up. It's not
actually a license. It just basically says "you're bound by licenses that are not here," that sort
of thing. But I was interested in comparing the license files in the default directory, the OEM
directory, and then the one just in system32. And it turns out the license.rtf file in all of those
locations are literally the exact same file. They have the same hash. They're not different. So it
seems like at least for the Windows license, which is a totally separate thing from the OEM license,
the Windows license is universal. There's not like a different one that applies to you compared to
whether you have OEM or retail. Alright now I'm sure you're all thinking, "alright yeah we get it.
Come on get to the good part, let's actually look at this." So let's open up the Windows agreement
thing that's actually in your computer that you could probably see right now. Anyway, there's
two main sections that are very relevant to the questions we have about getting support. One of
them literally is in a section called support, and here we can read. There's actually two
possible scenarios that it lists out. One says "for software pre-installed on a device".
And the other one is "for software acquired from a retailer." And clearly this is talking
about an OEM version versus a retail version, but let's take a closer look. So the first one,
it says, "for the software generally contact the device manufacturer or installer for support
options. Refer to the support number provided with the software. For updates and supplements
obtained directly from Microsoft, Microsoft may provide limited support services for properly
licensed software as described at"... you know, Microsoft's general support page. Okay. So how
does that differ from a retail copy? It just says "Microsoft provides limited support services
for properly licensed software as described". Same as the ending of the other one. So both of them
actually say that Microsoft might provide support, limited support, except the OEM one just has
that extra thing talking about contacting them for support first. However, note that even in
the OEM version, it talks about for updates and supplements provided directly from Microsoft,
but you could argue that Windows is updated so frequently, and I mean every year there's a major
update, that pretty much then qualifies you to receive support directly from Microsoft. Because
you got an update, so therefore you want support. So it seems like realistically Microsoft is just
kind of forcing retailers to provide support for the product, but it doesn't like exclude
you from getting support from Microsoft, if that makes sense. And we'll take a look more at
that later. But there is one other section at the beginning we need to take a look at, and that's at
the top of the agreement. And notice how it says, "depending on how you obtained the Windows
software, this is a license agreement between one, you and the device manufacturer or software
installer that distributes the software with the device, or two, you and Microsoft corporation
... If you acquire the software from a retail." So reading that, you might think, "Well wait a
minute. If I even buy an OEM copy, it doesn't say that here. Then I bought it from Newegg or Amazon.
That means that, yeah, even though it's OEM, I still bought it from a retailer. Therefore I
qualify for condition B." But turns out that's not actually the case. We need to look at the OEM
license on the OEM package to see why. So like I briefly showed you before, if you buy an OEM disc,
it's going to look slightly different. It's going to look like this ugly packaging, and there's
like two sleeves in it. There's this outer sleeve, which has stuff talking basically to a
manufacturer. And then there's an inner sleeve. Let's look at the inner one first. And
you'll notice that it has a sticker on it that goes on the PC and it has instructions saying
stuff like "for product support, contact the manufacturer of your PC." And you can also notice
that the disc that it comes with also specifically says "intended for distribution with a new PC. For
product support, contact manufacturer of your PC." So they're really laying it on thick that you're
supposed to get support from the manufacturer. And I think this is why that whole myth of "you
can only get support from the manufacturer comes from if you get an OEM", because they really try
to make it seem that way. But let's move back to the outer sleeve. And here the language is all
addressing the manufacturer instead. And again, here it says, "you are responsible for providing
end user support." But here is the important bit. You'll notice that there's like a red sticker and
it says, "warning, if you're a system builder by opening this package, you agree that you have
read and understood the Microsoft OEM system builder license fixed to this package and agree to
the terms and conditions." So going back to what I was hinting at before in the Windows license
agreement, even though it says, "yeah, if you buy it from a retailer then condition B applies."
Well, that can also be true at the same time as you now agreed to this, where you agreed to
give your own support. Anyway, let's take a look at the backside that has the actual OEM license
that everyone's talking about. And turns out the proper name is the Microsoft OEM System Builder
License. Again, in there, number seven, it says, "End User Support. You must provide end user
support for the software." Interestingly, it also adds "at a minimum, you'll provide commercially
reasonable telephone support". And I'll just put the rest of it on the screen if you want to, you
know, pause it and read through it yourself. But I want you to consider something. Yes, it says
all over the place that the manufacturer is going to have to provide support for the customer. But
does it actually say anywhere that Microsoft will not provide support to the customer directly?
I don't see that anywhere. Obviously they all over the place, try to convince people to go
to the manufacturer first, but again, they're not preventing you from doing so. Now, if you
really wanted to be technical, I think you could reasonably argue that yeah, technically Microsoft
could turn away supporting people who have an OEM license, but I've never actually seen evidence of
this happening. So at the end of the day, I think really the only difference between the OEM copy,
if you decide to buy that, and a retail version, is one going to be the price, it's going to be a
little bit cheaper. You might not be able to get support theoretically, but I don't think in
practicality, I think you'll have no problem actually getting support. But probably the main
other practical difference is it might be hard to transfer it from one computer to another if you
ever decide to do that. So if you were worried, "Well, I have a Windows OEM version" or you're
buying OEM version, you're trying to save a few bucks. I don't think you're really missing out
on anything. However, I would be very interested to know what you guys think down in the comments.
Maybe you have totally different experience. Maybe there is the rare case where actually it does make
a difference that I did not think of. So we can talk about that down there. Also, thanks again
to Aura for sponsoring the video. If you want to protect your data and take advantage of all the
other features it has, go to Aura.com/ThioJoe for a two week free trial. Link in the description.
Anyway, if you enjoyed this video and you want to keep watching, the next video I'd recommend
is where I talked about one setting in Windows that I think everyone should enable that is not
enabled by default. So I'll put that link right there you can click on. Thanks so much for
watching and I'll see you in the next one.
