Better late than never! It took a sweet while coming, but Redmond has finally made Windows 11 licenses available on the Microsoft Store.
Quietly, at that.
This was discovered by PCMag who believe that the licenses for the new OS were likely published at some point in May. But for one reason or another, the company did not release an official announcement to let everyone know about their availability.
But anyway, users now have an easy way to buy a product key whenever they need one, straight from the ever-improving Microsoft Store that now almost houses all things Microsoft.
Windows 11 Home is available for $139.00 over there, while Windows 10 Pro can be had for $199.99, which are the typical prices for licenses of these new operating system. Straight from the source, that is, because you can get these for a lot cheaper if you know where to look.
Or, you can get them alongside a new PC that you have been eyeing for some time now?
In any case, these are not for everybody:
“This version is designed for PCs that need a new license for Windows and meet the minimum system requirements (for Windows 11. If your PC is running Windows 10 and you are unable to use Windows Update to install the free upgrade to Windows 11, you will not be able to install this version of Windows 11.”
As Redmond clearly states on the Microsoft Store that these licenses are only available for devices that need a new license for the OS. That is to say, you can’t buy them for Windows 10 devices that do not meet the system requirements to move to Windows 11 free of charge.
Furthermore, the company does not waste the opportunity to recommend user to purchase a new PC that already comes with Windows 11 preinstalled. These devices already include an OS license, so you will not have to purchase them separately.
This new option, however, comes in handy for people that want an easy way to buy a license key for the device that they are currently using.
Up until now, Windows 8.1 was the only version of the operating system that had a place for itself on the Microsoft Store. Late though this arrival is, it is very much welcome, as the more avenues folks have to get their hands on a license, the better it is.
