Activation:"Digital License" form in-use before input of Retail Key...

There are (at least) two differences, by necessity...

endag said:

There are (at least) two differences, by necessity...

If you say so. You must know more than us.

Oh, this website isn't at all affiliated or even recognized by Microsoft. Sorry for intruding on you and your, uh, "friends", or whoever else you're consulting with haha. Anyways, as a matter of fact; I've built approximately four separate systems and all while using the "exact" same OEM disc of W10 Pro... How can that be? On a separate note, now that there is a "Windows 10 Home" acknowledgement by my current system, the "digital license" has not changed. Bugger.

endag said:

Anyways, as a matter of fact; I've built approximately four separate systems and all while using the "exact" same OEM disc of W10 Pro... How can that be? On a separate note, now that there is a "Windows 10 Home" acknowledgement by my current system, the "digital license" has not changed. Bugger.

Well, to be quite honest and frank, it is because you don't know how Windows 10 licensing works. It is very different than previous versions of Windows. The product key for Windows 10 is not the license. The product key only establishes the digital license for Windows 10 that is stored at Microsoft. An OEM product key, whether stored in the computer's firmware or purchased separately is only supposed to be able to establish the digital license for the first computer it is used on (although, it is not strictly enforced by Microsoft). A retail product key can be used to establish a digital license for multiple computers. Once the digital license is established by the product key, it is the digital license that activates Windows.

It's like purchasing season tickets for an event with a credit card. The credit card (product key) is used to purchase the season ticket (digital license). But you don't use the credit card to get into the event (activate Windows) - you use the ticket (digital license) that you purchased.

This is completely different than previous versions of Windows, which used the product key itself to activate Windows. The reason you can use the same OEM disk for Windows 10 to install multiple systems is because the disk itself contains no product key or license. The product key comes from the computer's BIOS or input from the user. And if no product key at all is supplied, then the generic product key for that edition of Windows 10 is used and once connected to the internet, Windows will contact Microsoft activation servers and attempt to locate a digital license for Windows 10 stored there based upon the unique Hardware ID of that computer.

When you upgrade a computer from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro, the digital license for Windows 10 Home for that computer is still stored on Microsoft Activation Servers, so either Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro will activate for that computer. And, under normal circumstances, when you install Windows 10 on a computer, setup will first look for a Windows 8 or Windows 10 product key stored in BIOS (or UEFI firmware). If it finds a product key there, it will use that to determine which edition of Windows 10 to install (home or pro), and will install that edition automatically without giving the user a choice.

And, finally, there is NO difference in functionality between an OEM licensed Windows 10 and a Windows 10 licensed with a retail product key.

An OEM (firmware, I guess?) version of Windows is enabled to a specific machine and operates solely to which that machine dictates. A retail version of Windows isn't reliant upon the machine in which it resides -- That is a difference in functionality.

endag said:

An OEM (firmware, I guess?) version of Windows is enabled to a specific machine and operates solely to which that machine dictates. A retail version of Windows isn't reliant upon the machine in which it resides -- That is a difference in functionality.

I must disagree. That is a difference in licensing, not functionality. Merriam-Webster:

especially : the set of functions or capabilities associated with computer software or hardware or an electronic device

Unless you specifically traced the product key that was used to establish the digital license for Windows 10, you would have no way of knowing if it was OEM or Full Retail because the OEM Windows 10 has all of the features and capabilities that the Retail Windows 10 has. The difference is that with an OEM product key, you are supposed to be able to only establish 1 digital license for a particular motherboard (which Microsoft does not enforce).

I get the sense that you want to think that your Windows 10 will somehow be "special" because it was activated with a full retail product key instead of a OEM product key....but with Windows 10 that just isn't going to happen.

I'm not sure how much more clear I can be here; Again, because there are different versions (or licensing features, if you will) of Windows, there are at least that many differences between them in their operation (or "function").
Not sure if you're alluding to the idea that every version of Windows is identical to one-another... even between OEM and Retail... clearly they're not...

Home, Pro, Education, Enterprise editions of Windows 10 all have different functions and capabilities.

Windows 10 Home OEM and Windows 10 Home Retail will function exactly the same.

Windows 10 Pro OEM and Windows 10 Pro Retail will function exactly the same.