Windows 10 Paid vs Free whats the difference?

[tank12up]

Is there a difference between the free(upgrade from windows 7/8 to 10) and paid(the CD or USB you buy at the store with win 10 on it) versions of windows 10?

Other than the price

[thekeemo]

There is no free version

[Oshino Shinobu]

Is there a free version of Windows 10? There's the upgrade, but that's just the same as the corresponding Windows 10 version

[kameshss]

You can't get the Windows 10 for free unless you have Genuine Windows 7/8.

[cferns1]

Wait, what do you mean? Do you mean an upgrade vs. a CD?

or Windows 10 Home vs. Windows 10 Pro?

 

If its the latter then the most noticeable feature of Pro for me is MS Remote Desktop connectivity. This is not available on Home. I haven't really noticed anything else.

 

Hope this helps!

[Blebekblebek]

There is no "free" version

 

the "free" that you mention is an upgrade that microsoft offers for previous OS users

 

so if you have Windows 8/8.1 license you get free upgrade to Windows 10

some users even reporting they also get free upgrades offer for Windows 7

 

so what's the differences?

if you bought Windows 10 license you can install and use serial number when installing

and with only free upgrade, I'm just assuming that user have to install their previous OS first then upgrades to W10 because you cannot use the serial number for Windows 10, please correct me for this one if this untrue.

[tank12up]

There is no "free" version

 

the "free" that you mention is an upgrade that microsoft offers for previous OS users

 

so if you have Windows 8/8.1 license you get free upgrade to Windows 10

some users even reporting they also get free upgrades offer for Windows 7

 

so what's the differences?

if you bought Windows 10 license you can install and use serial number when installing

and with only free upgrade, I'm just assuming that user have to install their previous OS first then upgrades to W10 because you cannot use the serial number for Windows 10, please correct me for this one if this untrue.

So there is no difference at all

[NumLock21]

There is no difference between the free and paid version of windows 10. The free one is for those who upgraded with a valid license of windows 7 or 8/8.1 and once you get it, it's yours even when the offer expires. The paid one is you get a key card along with the package. When the free offer expires, if you get the paid version, then you won't have to worry about whether or not it will still work, because you paid for it and your win10 key is on the key card. For those who got the free upgrade, the license is registered and activated by the hardware id generated from your computer when it was doing the upgrade. Your computer hardware ID matches with the one on MS activation list, then your os gets activated, mismatch then it will not activate. The newest build of Windows 10 is suppose to let you still activate it with your old Win7 or 8/8.1 key, but I have not tried that out yet. OEM license is tied to the computer, so if you get a new build, then it's a new license. Retail is tied to the user, it can be transferred to as many new computers as you like, as long as it's only running on 1 computer.