Guess I'm naive, do I have to purchase a Windows license for $200?

I have been running Parallels desktop for a couple of months now, and all of sudden it is requiring me to activate Windows and buy a license for $200. I thought the Parallels license included a virtual machine Windows which I could use. Maybe I am being naive, but I was hoping to avoid having to drop $200 to run the 1 or 2 programs I need to run on Windows.

Hopefully I am just missing something?

 

Parallels Desktop does not include the Windows license, you have to acquire it separately.

 

Hello,
I set up Windows using a "Full Version" Windows 8.1 that I purchased from Amazon for about $100. It loaded without difficulty but I sweated it nonetheless as in some places Parallels referred to using a "System Builder" or OEM Version. I had also read that the OEM version was not correct so I had visions of having to rebuy Windows but that was just a bad dream. FULL VERSION worked fine.

 

The issue with OEM/System Builder licenses is not a technical one, it's a legal one, meaning, they technically work, legally, however, they would likely not pass an MS audit, but that is up for debate.