RETAIL Channel: RETAIL licenses are usually for computers that do not have Windows pre-installed and are purchased either from Microsoft stores or from trusted third-party vendors. Microsoft provides Windows Licenses using one of following two (2) channels:Ī. Which Windows Licenses can be Transferred?
This article will cover how consumers (end users) can determine the type of Windows 10/11 license they have and how to transfer the license from one computer to another. Furthermore, a particular Windows license can only be activated on one computer. Microsoft has policies in place that guide and clearly define which licenses can be transferred. When we replace an old computer with a new one that does not have a Windows license, we have the problem of obtaining a legitimate Windows license for the new computer to work properly.Īt this point many users are wondering if they can transfer their Windows 10/11 license from their old computer to their new one. If this has been helpful, please take a moment to accept answers as this helps increase visibility of this question for other members of the Microsoft Q&A community.Have you bought or want to buy a new computer and are wondering how to transfer the license of your old Windows 10/11 pc to the new one? If so, this article is for you. I hope this helps! If you are still running into issues, please let us know in the comments. Specific license activation instructions are better suited for a Windows specialist however from an Azure standpoint, you just need to make sure that you meet the licensing requirements listed in the documentation above depending on your use case.
The activation message you are getting appears to be a volume license. For production environments, this means a multitenant license found in specific enterprise and other licenses listed here:įor development and test environments, you can use Windows Client images available to specific Visual Studio subscriptions as well as other offers as listed here: Unlike Windows Server which includes the OS cost with the VM, Windows 10 and Windows 11 require that you bring your own license that can be used in a cloud environment. How do I license a single instance of Windows 10/11 on Azure?