Best for: a family PC or laptop that needs a genuine, permanent Windows licence at the lowest possible price.
This is the cheapest genuine Windows licence we sell. It costs less for two reasons: it is an OEM licence, so it stays with the computer it first activates on, and it activates through Microsoft’s phone service rather than the instant online check.
The activation, step by step.
Enter the key in Windows Settings. The online attempt fails with an error such as 0xC004C008, which is expected, and Windows then offers to activate by phone. Take the Installation ID it displays, paste it into our Get CID page along with your activation code, and type the Confirmation ID back in. Two minutes, no phone call.
What Home covers
- The full Windows experience: Microsoft Store, Edge, Snap Layouts, widgets and Windows Hello sign-in
- Device encryption on supported hardware, plus Microsoft Defender
- All security and feature updates, permanently
Home leaves out BitLocker management, Remote Desktop hosting, Hyper-V and domain join. If you need any of those, our Pro OEM phone key adds them for a little more.














