Is your Windows license legal? Should you even care?

This software is licensed, not sold.

That sentence, which has scrolled past PC users' eyeballs for decades as they click through Windows license agreements without reading them, is what made Bill Gates rich. It is also the gateway to an insanely confusing thicket of legal verbiage, and Microsoft has made the topic even more bewildering through the years by adding layers of anti-piracy protection that are only indirectly related to the license itself. (And let's not even start on weaselly words like genuine.)

Also: Is Microsoft really going to cut off security updates for your 'unsupported' Windows 11 PC?

I've been studying Microsoft licensing agreements for more than two decades. During that time, I've written dozens of articles on the subject and have prepared testimony as an expert witness in criminal and civil cases where Microsoft licensing was at the crux of some serious disagreements. One thing I've learned along the way is that even people who work for Microsoft sometimes get confused about when a license is legitimate and when it's not.

If they have trouble sorting out license agreements, what chance do the rest of us have?

Also: Yes, you can upgrade that old PC to Windows 11, even if Microsoft says no. These readers proved it

Most of the time, a Windows license is strictly a formality, something you can safely ignore. But occasionally, it matters, especially if you're building your own PC or upgrading to a different edition. If you're making IT purchases for a business that involves more than a few dozen PCs, a Windows license absolutely matters.

To make this difficult topic a little easier, I've put together a list of questions and answers focused specifically on Windows PCs. Is your license valid? How can you tell? Should you care?

Let's start with the most confusing one of all. What exactly is a Windows license, anyway?