Win 7 64bit to OEM or to Retail that tis be the question.

[zanzabar]

I have a questionn about OEM. I just bought the OEM version of W764 because it was $99. anways, this is the first time I bought the OEM version and havn't opened it yet. Does it install the same way as any other version of windows on a new build? my understanding so far is that it can only be used once, which is all I need it for. Any help would be great.

the disk and OS work identical to the retail, u just have a key that dose not let u install from an upgrade copy later. the rest is terms that u are supposed to abide by but do not affect how it works

[NEOAethyr]

Actualy there is multible types of liceanses for oem just like there is for vlm.

Real oem is where the os is pre-installed and has a slp key embedded into the acpi rom inside your pc's bios.
You have a special key, usually only a handful or so per company.
There's a special file on the disk that determains the oem brand.
The slp key in your bios has to match the cert file and your oem key.
If it does, it's self registering.
You don't need the net to register it or call on it when you upgrade it.

All other ver's you need to register it online or over the phone.
Most vlm ver's of it you need to continuesly reg it every other week or so.

Some special vlm's are oem's as well, volume licease distrobution and no need to reg the machines online or over the phone.
These are the same as the oem but with special vlm files.

Several files differ from one type of licease to the next, quite alot of them.
Each type is like a different beast.
Each with there own diff programs sometimes, and kernels.

Worst to best in offical like:
Oem
Retail
Vlm
Oem+vlm

Worst to best in actuality ->
VLM-(kms)
Retail
Oem
VLM+OEM(special system builder type, only for "big" companies for internal use only type of stuff)


Retail is always the same.
These day's it's reg it and have midgrade compile.

There used to be a vlm+free ver that was the full vlm ver, but with no key needed, this was along time ago.

And before that there was dev ver, which used to be thee premo ver.
None of those needed keys but I don't believe they were a free liceanse either.

Server wise.
Datacenter is on top.
And enterprise server is the 2nd from the top.

There is some specialized ver's, like compute cluster and embedded.
Those might actual be better then datacenter I don't know.

That's pretty much all there is to know about one ver to the next.
Oh, and that each type of liceanse has diff defaults.
Same with editions, different defaults and access level's, etc.

Edit:
Oh and when it's down to win7, retail vs true original ms oem master copy, is little diff from each other.
You can convert one to the other with a single command after installing.
Which is neat.
Useful for those that lose there oem disk and buy a retail disk to replace it.

The win7 ultimate disk is all of the lower ver's as well if you mod the installer to pick the correct install path.
Though I don't know why you'de want to do that...

[95RapidRiot]

Can I use Win 7 Pro OEM on my computer and my kids' computer at home if I build them both?

[daytripper67mi]

Can I use Win 7 Pro OEM on my computer and my kids' computer at home if I build them both?

you would need 2 copies or 2 licenses.