Licensing Windows 11

Windows has historically been a device licensing model, but these days user licenses are also available for some editions. In this section we’ll focus on the traditional device licenses, and you can find information on the Windows 11 User SLs here.

Customers may acquire Windows 11 Pro through the OEM channel pre-installed on a new computer. This is a non-transferrable license which means that the software lives and dies on that machine – when the device is retired, the software may not be transferred to another machine. For devices that aren’t brand new, Windows 11 Pro can be purchased as a retail product or directly from the Microsoft website.

Unlike the OEM and retail offerings, Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise licenses bought through a Volume Licensing agreement or CSP (where available) are both upgrade licenses, requiring a Qualifying Operating System on a device before a license may be assigned to it.

The eligible Qualifying Operating Systems are detailed in the Product Terms. For the Volume Licensing agreements (EA, MPSA, Select, and Open Value) they’re Windows 8/8.1/10/11 Pro or Enterprise, and can include Windows 7 licenses if they’re covered by Extended Security Updates. For licenses purchased through CSP it’s just Windows 10/11 Pro or Enterprise licenses that qualify.