Wrong Windows 10?

[nukecad]

Regulars have noted recently that some screenshots from users show that they have Windows 10 'Enterprise' edition.

Enterprise edition is for medium/large businesses/organisations.
It is supposedly only available through Microsoft's Volume Licensing Programme and not normally available for individuals.
(You can buy an Enterprise license as an individual, but it's costly and Pro would be a better option because the extras with enterprise would be of no use to an individual).

It's not just CCleaner/Speccy showing this, winver has also shown this on at least one occasion.

Either Windows 10 itself is reporting this wrongly, Microsoft are giving out Enterprise when you buy pro, or some major company out there is selling or pre-installing Windows editions that they shouldn't be.

 

For my interest, and to try and work out just why this is happening,  could I ask members here to check their Windows 10 edition.
Open the start menu, type winver and run the command.

If it says your edition is 'Enterprise' (not Home or Professional) where arrowed below then could you tell us your computer make, and if you bought it with Windows 10 pre-installed or installed it yourself. (Also did you order Pro or Enterprise?)(And if you bought/installed Windows 10 yourself where did you buy it from?).
If yours says Home or Professional then there is no need to post, it's these odd Enterprise editions that are of interest here.

Thanks.

[mta]

I think those with Enterprise would have 'acquired' it through either the company they work for or a 'contact' at another company.
or they are using their work computer when reporting these issues.

[nukecad]

There are a few possible scenarios as to why we are seeing questions from more Enterprise edition users than previously.

One possible answer is the rise of the 'gig' economy.
Say one of the delivery firms is providing it's drivers with laptops/tablets they may well want Entreprise on there for the extra admin control it gives.
Perhaps more likely is the increase in working from home, again if the company supplies the computer equipment then they may want Enterprise on there.

Enterprise allows a company to make changes to an employee's computer settings remotely.
It also allows them to block some apps, some downloads, etc. remotely.

It does add another thing to consider when answering questions,-  it may be something the company admin/IT has done that is causing the users issue.
In which case the first contact for problem solving should be the company IT, just like with a workplace computer.

There again it could just be a glitch in the way the WMI/ winver is reporting Pro editions.
Or an individual may be paying much more than they need to for an edition they don't realy need. (But I wouldn't expect to suddenly see 4 or 5 in a month).
Or it could be a hacked, or unauthorised, version bought cheap from an internet site. In which case Microsoft will block the license once it finds out, leaving the user with an unworkable machine.

It's in an attempt to try and work out which one (or more) scenario is causing this perceived sudden increase in Enterprise use that I have asked this question.

If we can work out which scenario it is then we can give users more relevent advice.

[Andavari]

On 8/21/2018 at 09:02, nukecad said:

There again it could just be a glitch in the way the WMI/ winver is reporting Pro editions.

A glitch in Windows, never.

Could just be some system builders are installing it to test a system with their software tools of choice, and leave it installed instead of wiping it off the system and installing the consumer build. In other words it could be down to laziness.

[nukecad]

13 hours ago, Andavari said:

A glitch in Windows, never.

Could just be some system builders are installing it to test a system with their software tools of choice, and leave it installed instead of wiping it off the system and installing the consumer build. In other words it could be down to laziness.

Yes it could be, but if they are then they shouldn't.

Once Microsoft notice a user has an Enterprise edition not supported by the Volume Licensing Programme then they will block that license leaving the user with an unlicenced, unsupported, maybe non-working, Windows edition on their machine.
And MS can check Windows licenses much more easily now that they are all digital and stored on MS's servers.

It has happened before with cheap Windows licences bought off eBay and the like.

PS. I find it interesting that the 3 most recent posters where this came up never came back once it was pointed out that they were running Enterprise edition.
Guilty consciences?

[Andavari]

Dunno, but when people buy a PC built for them by whomever versus an established well known system builder who knows if they're getting a legally licensed version installed.