Windows 10: The OEM Hostage Situation

Here is a scenario that is uniquely frustrating to anyone who deals with high-end gaming laptops: You buy a premium machine (Razer, ASUS, etc.), and it comes with Windows 10 Home.

You, being a professional who needs things like Hyper-V or BitLocker, want to install Windows 10 Pro. You have a key. You have the installation media. You boot from the USB, ready to wipe the drive and start fresh.

But the installer never asks you which version you want. It silently installs “Home” again. Why?

The Invisible Hand of the BIOS

Modern laptops often embed their Windows license key directly into the ACPI table of the BIOS. When the Windows installer starts, it checks the BIOS, finds an OEM Channel key for Windows Home, and decides, “I know what you want.”

It does not know what you want.

You can verify your current channel with a simple command:

slmgr /dli

If it says OEM_DM channel, you are tied to the hardware key.

The Fix: ei.cfg

To break this automated cycle and force the installer to ask for a version (or accept a different key), we need to override the channel detection.

We do this by adding a configuration file to your bootable USB drive.

1. Create your Windows 10 Installation Media (standard ISO to USB).
2. Navigate to the \sources\ directory on the USB drive.
3. Create a new file named ei.cfg (make sure it’s not ei.cfg.txt).
4. Paste the following content:

[Channel]
Retail

Why This Works

The ei.cfg file tells the setup program which edition and license type to default to. By specifying Retail as the channel, we are explicitly telling the installer to ignore the OEM constraints found in the firmware.

On the next boot, the installer will pause and politely ask: “Which version of Windows would you like to install?”

Freedom.