Windows 10 Home vs. Professional

[Sophon]

I just bought a new laptop without O/S (other than Dos), and intend to buy Windows 10 to put on it when it arrives. The computers I have previously bought have always come with Windows pre-installed, so I am not really up on the different versions of Windows 10. All I really need is Windows 10 Home 64-Bit single language (English) for a single computer such as this example from Lazada, which costs in the region of 4,000 Baht.

However, I can get Windows 10 Professional for less than the Home version. I always thought that the Professional version was the same as the Home version, but with added features - i.e. a somewhat better version but at a higher price. But I can get the Professional version for 2,900 Baht, available here also on Lazada. I am sure that I will never use the extra features of the Professional version, but if I get all I would get with the Home version but at a better price, then why not?

So what am I missing, what is the downside by getting the Professional version of Windows 10 instead of the Home version?

Sophon

[chrisinth]

Don't think there is any downside to the pro. version at all.

Basically the differences are based around a domain/office Local area network for pro. as opposed to home use for the home edition.

The main differences are that pro comes with:

Remote access availability

Policy editor (group)

Domain joining service

BitLocker Drive Encryption

Probably a couple of extra things that i can't remember as well

and the Home version doesn't............................

No reason to use any of the additions if you don't need them, no major difference in the memory usage or operating speeds, but if you are getting Professional for cheaper than Home, go for it.

[Pakaty]

They would have to pay me to use Win. 10 the Spy Edition.

[Chicog]

They would have to pay me to use Win. 10 the Spy Edition.

Don't use it then.

:Yawn:

[KhunBENQ]

If you look at the non-discounted prices the world is in order (Pro more expensive than Home).

No idea why the Pro version is so heavily discounted.

Also I did not do a thorough research about potential differences in the licensing conditions of both offers.

Just assuming they are both good for your purpose.

Edited December 21, 2015 by KhunBENQ

[Sophon]

Don't think there is any downside to the pro. version at all.

Basically the differences are based around a domain/office Local area network for pro. as opposed to home use for the home edition.

The main differences are that pro comes with:

Remote access availability

Policy editor (group)

Domain joining service

BitLocker Drive Encryption

Probably a couple of extra things that i can't remember as well

and the Home version doesn't............................

No reason to use any of the additions if you don't need them, no major difference in the memory usage or operating speeds, but if you are getting Professional for cheaper than Home, go for it.

Yeah, that's what I thought too. I probably won't use any of the extra features, but it doesn't hurt to have them should I change my mind. I guess that what the seller of the Pro version is selling could be software that is intended to be sold with a PC (and therefore sold to him at a discount) and he might therefore be breaking Microsoft's conditions. But I don't see how it would make a difference for the buyer as Microsoft won't be able to tell whether the software was sold with a PC or separately.

Thanks for the reply.

Sophon

[impulse]

Looks like the Pro version is OEM, which (I believe) means it's married to that laptop. You can't move it over to a different computer if you decide to update to a faster computer, or if it craps out on you.

There's also some questions (in my mind) about the legitimacy of selling OEM OS at retail without bundling it with at least a HD, if not a full computer. Though I installed an OEM version of Win 7 on my older Netbook and had no problem updating it to Win 10. I suspect that may be geo-market specific and MS is looser with OEM in Thailand than back home because they're just pleased I bought genuine MS stuff here instead of a 30 baht copy.

My feeble understanding of Win 10 Pro vs Home is that if you want to be part of a Domain, you need Pro. For example, I can't become part of my company's Domain with my Win 10 home version netbook. (Nor with my Win 10 SL version full speed laptop) Not a big deal in my case.

Edit: Just noticed both Lazada offerings are OEM, leading me to suspect you just get the COA sticker with the Pro, and get the DVD with the more expensive Home. But I'd be interested if you find out that's not correct. I'm in the market for Win 10 and that would be handy info...

Edited December 21, 2015 by impulse

[2fishin2]

Go straight here and purchase the download:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Windows-10-Home/productID.319937100?VID=320028200&ICID=Win10Home_DualCTA

[Sophon]

Looks like the Pro version is OEM, which (I believe) means it's married to that laptop. You can't move it over to a different computer if you decide to update to a faster computer, or if it craps out on you.

There's also some questions (in my mind) about the legitimacy of selling OEM OS at retail without bundling it with at least a HD, if not a full computer. Though I installed an OEM version of Win 7 on my older Netbook and had no problem updating it to Win 10.

My feeble understanding of Win 10 Pro vs Home is that if you want to be part of a Domain, you need Pro. For example, I can't become part of my company's Domain with my Win 10 home version netbook. (Nor with my Win 10 SL version full speed laptop) Not a big deal in my case.

Both the Windows Home version of Windows 10 at 4,090 Baht and the Windows Pro version at 2,900 Baht are OEM, so on that score the two versions are equal. And I am fine with only being able to install it on one computer.

From my point of view I am buying a genuine copy of Windows. If the seller is breaking some rules by selling the software without bundling it with hardware, then that is between him and Microsoft.

Sophon

Edit: According to Google translate the Pro version comes with a DVD, time will tell if that is actually the case. One of the reasons I chose not to buy directly from Microsoft is that I don't want to download the software on my fairly slow connection.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Sophon

[Sophon]

No mention of a DVD with the more expensive Home version, but based on the product picture it probably does include one (I'm basing that assumption on the shape of the product). InvadeIT sells Windows 10 Home with DVD for 3,990 but they are closed until the beginning of the new year.

Sophon

Edited December 21, 2015 by Sophon

[Sophon]

If you look at the non-discounted prices the world is in order (Pro more expensive than Home).

No idea why the Pro version is so heavily discounted.

Also I did not do a thorough research about potential differences in the licensing conditions of both offers.

Just assuming they are both good for your purpose.

I hope so, as I have now placed my order.

Sophon

[impulse]

I hope so, as I have now placed my order.

Sophon

Let us know what you find out... I did my first Lazada order last week and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went.

[Pib]

I bought my two Windows 10 Pro licenses from this Ebay seller for 12.90 Euro (approx Bt500) back in Sep 15...he has the licenses priced at approx Bt660 now...he's sold over 2500 of the licenses and has almost a 100% positive feedback rating.

He provides the license and instructions on where to download the Windows ISO from (it an electronic software download (ESD)) via an email usually within a few hours. You download the Windows ISO from Microsoft Windows servers, not some unknown server. And actually on one of my machines where I had Windows 10 Home already installed (the machine I using right now) I just changed/updated the product key to the Win 10 Pro product key, after about 5-10 minutes of Windows re-configuring itself and downloading a few more files from Windows servers I was now running Win 10 Pro...pretty painless. Your results may vary. Using the Windows slmgr command to get license info it shows the license number as a full retail version and permanently activated.

Here's the link to the Ebay seller's current ad: Link

[TheCruncher]

OP, you should take a look at Reddit, a legit windows 10 key is around 35$.

You can even go cheaper at 15$ by purchasing a Windows 7 Ultimate N key and then upgrade.

https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/

Edited December 21, 2015 by TheCruncher

[Chicog]

Just because this is the most current Win 10 thread....

DECEMBER 16, 2015 10:03 AM

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 11082

By Gabe Aul / Corporate Vice President, Engineering Systems Team

Hi everyone,

Today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 11082 to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.

With this build, you won’t see big noticeable changes or new features just yet. Right now, the team is focused on product improvements based on the feedback we’re hearing on the November update to Windows 10. This includes the changes that have also been going out as cumulative updates through Windows Update on your PCs running the Windows 10 November Update as well as on phones running Windows 10 too. We’re also working on some structural improvements to OneCore, which is the shared core of Windows across devices. Essentially, OneCore is the heart of Windows, and these improvements to OneCore make building Windows across PC, tablet, phone, IoT, Hololens and Xbox more efficient. We’re doing some code refactoring and other engineering work to make sure OneCore is optimally structured for teams to start checking in new features and improvements in the new year.

Give this new build a try and send us your feedback and suggestions via theWindows Feedback app.

Prepare for Faster Fast ring builds

One of the things that I have heard many times from Insiders in the Fast ring is that they want to see a faster pace of build availability. We’ve been considering how we want to respond to this feedback, and in January we expect to pick up the pace. To do this, we are re-evaluating the ring promotion criteria to allow more builds to reach Windows Insiders. The new criteria will be much closer to our criteria for flighting to our internal rings, which means more builds will pass it and be released externally to the Fast ring. This also means however that the builds we release to the Fast ring may include more bugs and other issues that could be slightly more painful for some people to live with. It’s a tradeoff – as the thing that throttles the rate of builds is the promotion criteria.

If you’re one of the many vocal Fast ring Insiders who’ve asked for this you’re probably excited right now. If you aren’t completely comfortable with this change then I encourage you to switch to the Slow ring to remain on more stable builds going forward. You can do this by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options and under “Get Insider Preview builds” moving the slider to the Slow ring. As always, we’ll listen to your feedback about this change and see how it goes so that we can learn and continue to evolve going forward.

Starting with this build, we are also going to begin publishing known issues for the builds in the Insider Hub rather than in the companion blog post. This will allow us to have a more complete and updated set of issues for the build for Insiders to review. You can find the known issues for this build here.

[Sophon]

I hope so, as I have now placed my order.

Sophon

Let us know what you find out... I did my first Lazada order last week and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went.

So, my order arrived and it did include a DVD, however, it was one of the cheap Princo DVD-R disks and my computer was unable to read the contents. As a result I had to download a Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft, after which the key provided by the seller worked perfectly.

Sophon

[2fishin2]

I hope so, as I have now placed my order.

Sophon

Let us know what you find out... I did my first Lazada order last week and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went.

So, my order arrived and it did include a DVD, however, it was one of the cheap Princo DVD-R disks and my computer was unable to read the contents. As a result I had to download a Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft, after which the key provided by the seller worked perfectly.

Sophon

And I would bet the key you have is not authentic

[Sophon]

I hope so, as I have now placed my order.

Sophon

Let us know what you find out... I did my first Lazada order last week and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went.

So, my order arrived and it did include a DVD, however, it was one of the cheap Princo DVD-R disks and my computer was unable to read the contents. As a result I had to download a Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft, after which the key provided by the seller worked perfectly.

Sophon

And I would bet the key you have is not authentic

And I would bet that it is, but that it's an OEM key intended to be sold bundled with hardware. Sellers won't last long on Lazada if they are selling counterfeited goods.

Sophon

[Pib]

I expect the license is legal and it's just like the licenses you can buy from many Ebay sellers for around $20...they email you the legal license number they got from various Microsoft channels with instructions to go download the Windows ISO from the Microsoft servers. I expect the Lazada seller just downloaded the ISO from the Windows servers, put it on a DVD with home made labeling, and then mailed out the order to the customer.

You might want to go to the Windows command window via "Command Prompt (Admin)" and then type in various forms of the built-in Windows command called the Software License Manager (slmgr) command...see below....this will tell whether the license is OEM, Retail, Evaluation, length of activation, etc. See this weblink for more info: Link

slmgr /dlv

slmgr/ dli

slmgr /xpr

[2fishin2]

Id be interested in what kind and if its legal

[TheCruncher]

I hope so, as I have now placed my order.

Sophon

Let us know what you find out... I did my first Lazada order last week and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went.

So, my order arrived and it did include a DVD, however, it was one of the cheap Princo DVD-R disks and my computer was unable to read the contents. As a result I had to download a Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft, after which the key provided by the seller worked perfectly.

Sophon

And I would bet the key you have is not authentic

And I would bet that if the key wasn't legal he wouldn't have been able to register it with Microsoft, especially since he used an 100% original image to install.

[2fishin2]

Actually i had a copy of office, registered it with microsoft successfully and then several weeks later it came back as a "bad" copy. I went ahead and purchased and downloaded a copy direct. Lesson learned you never know when buying outside official channels.

[TheCruncher]

Actually i had a copy of office, registered it with microsoft successfully and then several weeks later it came back as a "bad" copy. I went ahead and purchased and downloaded a copy direct. Lesson learned you never know when buying outside official channels.

You mean you had a cracked copy registered with Microsoft, and after you accidentally downloaded the genuine tool update, or your antivirus removed the hack, it came up as a copy.

Microsoft doesn't activate products, to find out later that that they aren't genuine, unless there is a hack inside the software that makes them believe it is genuine.

Edited December 25, 2015 by TheCruncher

[Ks45672]

Actually i had a copy of office, registered it with microsoft successfully and then several weeks later it came back as a "bad" copy. I went ahead and purchased and downloaded a copy direct. Lesson learned you never know when buying outside official channels.

Generally you won't get almost free Microsoft or adobe software on Thailand unless you specifically ask for a licenced copy and pay more...

Most of the laptops I've bought over the years had a full package of " Thai activated" software

But if you count the license fees+hardware it would not add up

I would advise anyone who cares to reformat and then reinstall with the key provided if it's legit... It should work fine..... If...

The laptop shop beside me will install anything for 100 because it costs them basically nothing to spin the disc and enter the code or patch it

[Sophon]

I expect the license is legal and it's just like the licenses you can buy from many Ebay sellers for around $20...they email you the legal license number they got from various Microsoft channels with instructions to go download the Windows ISO from the Microsoft servers. I expect the Lazada seller just downloaded the ISO from the Windows servers, put it on a DVD with home made labeling, and then mailed out the order to the customer.

You might want to go to the Windows command window via "Command Prompt (Admin)" and then type in various forms of the built-in Windows command called the Software License Manager (slmgr) command...see below....this will tell whether the license is OEM, Retail, Evaluation, length of activation, etc. See this weblink for more info: Link

slmgr /dlv

slmgr/ dli

slmgr /xpr

It's an OEM license. I know this because the key came on one of those colorful Microsoft stickers they stick to your PC when you buy one with Windows pre-installed, and the sticker says it's OEM.

Sophon

[Pib]

Once installed you might want to use the slmgr command a try to see if the results given agree with what the stickers says. Plus the slmgr can also identify the length of activation status. Happy Holidays.

[TheCruncher]

Once installed you might want to use the slmgr command a try to see if the results given agree with what the stickers says. Plus the slmgr can also identify the length of activation status. Happy Holidays.

Do you have any links to sources where Windows had a limited activation status?

[Pib]

Once installed you might want to use the slmgr command a try to see if the results given agree with what the stickers says. Plus the slmgr can also identify the length of activation status. Happy Holidays.

Do you have any links to sources where Windows had a limited activation status?

http://arnavsharma.net/3/post/2014/02/configuring-licenses-using-slmgr.html

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/troubleshooting-windows-7-activation-states

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2806745

http://woshub.com/how-to-increase-kms-server-current-count/

[impulse]

Thanks, Pib for the links.

My curiosity was also piqued when your previous slmgr links showed the "minutes remaining under activation status"....

[TheCruncher]

Once installed you might want to use the slmgr command a try to see if the results given agree with what the stickers says. Plus the slmgr can also identify the length of activation status. Happy Holidays.

Do you have any links to sources where Windows had a limited activation status?

http://arnavsharma.net/3/post/2014/02/configuring-licenses-using-slmgr.html

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/troubleshooting-windows-7-activation-states

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2806745

http://woshub.com/how-to-increase-kms-server-current-count/

Sorry, but I fail to see an example of a Windows that was successful activated but only for a certain amount of time.

Isn't the initial grace period the time you have left before the OS must be activated?