Full Windows 11 licence

Want to upgrade to Windows 11 but don’t want to pay full price for the OS? Take advantage of our reader offer and you can save up to 59%

Are you in the market for a new copy of Windows 11? Perhaps you’re building a new PC from scratch or looking to move up from Windows 7? Maybe you’re planning to run Windows alongside macOS or Linux? Whatever your reasons, a Windows 11 OEM licence is a great choice.

The first reason is simple: price. Microsoft charges £120 for a retail licence of Windows 11 Home, and a staggering £220 for Windows 11 Pro. By choosing an OEM licence – and avoiding the many dubious sources of licences you may find online – you cut that price in half.

OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer, but that doesn’t mean this licence is only an option for new system builders. Far from it, in fact. Although OEM licences can be used on one machine – once installed and activated, they’re tied to that device

– they otherwise work in exactly the same way as a full Windows 11 licence. That means unlimited Windows reinstalls and access to all future Windows 11 updates.

A fresh start

In fact, Windows 11 OEM is perfect for any kind of fresh install. It’s the obvious choice for those building a new PC from scratch – the lower price means you save money on the cost of your build – but you may also need a fresh OEM licence if you’ve upgraded your motherboard with a different model. (Although we suggest you contact Microsoft first; it can often be lenient on this rule.)

An OEM licence also fits the bill if you want to run Windows alongside another operating system, either in a dual-boot configuration (such as a Boot Camp configuration on a Mac) or in a virtual environment such as VirtualBox, Parallels Desktop or VMware.

In either event, it’s a far more cost-effective choice than splashing out on a full retail licence.

Version therapy

Windows 11 Pro includes all the new frills and features found in Windows 11 Home, plus important business functionality for encryption, remote login, creating virtual machines and more.

If you already own Windows 10 Home, you can upgrade to Windows 11 Pro using the OEM licence and benefit from additional features such as BitLocker.

This offers system-wide data protection by encrypting your drives, including external ones such as USB keys.

Then there’s Assigned Access, which gives greater control over what users are able to do on a system, while Hyper-V allows you to run a virtualised operating system within Windows without the need for extra software, such as an insider build of Windows 11, a Linux distro or even older editions of Windows. There’s a reason why enthusiasts go Pro!

One final note: please remember to check your PC can run Windows 11 before purchasing. Head to pcpro.link/ healthcheck and Microsoft’s PC Health Check App will download automatically.