How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro without hassles

[RV_]

Got old windows 7 Pro keys lying around? I do, in fact I now regret giving away one copy of Vista Pro now. I do have a copy of Win 7 Pro, original retail packaging and holo ribbons etc. Strictly legal. I also bought four of the discount 8 Pro licenses for $14.99 each when 8 debuted. If one has old dead computers and the Windows 7 keys are on them, and readable, I would venture that if they were OEMs they might work too.

 

Anyway, some of my fellow tinkerers here might find this info very useful.

 

Excerpt:

 

"You've got a new PC (or an old, freshly upgraded one) running Windows 10 Home. You want to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. Here's how to get the job done quickly. You can even get the upgrade for no extra cost if you have an unused Pro or Ultimate product key from an older version of Windows.

 

Microsoft's new activation rules for Windows 10 take some getting used to.

 

The biggest change is in the way product keys are handled for so-called "digital entitlements." If you take advantage of Microsoft's offer of a free upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, you don't need a Windows 10 product key at all.

 

Instead, a digital fingerprint of your hardware is stored on Microsoft's activation servers, allowing you to reinstall that edition of Windows on that hardware without the need for a product key.

 

In addition, beginning with the November 2015 update to Windows 10, aka version 1511, you can use Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 product keys to activate your installation of Windows 10.

 

And to further complicate things, Microsoft supplies default product keys for Windows 10 that can be used to unlock an edition without activating it. I've already seen one article from one notoriously sensational and invariably inaccurate source that claims this allows "free upgrades" to Windows 10 Pro.

 

No, it doesn't.

 

But the new rules do enable some interesting scenarios, especially where edition upgrades, such as moving from Windows 10 Home to Pro, are concerned.

 

In particular, it means that old product keys you might have lying around are suddenly worthwhile. For example, Microsoft sold heavily discounted upgrades to Windows 8 Pro in the first few months after launch. In addition, you might have retail copies of Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate available, where the license associated with their product key is no longer in use.

 

Those keys can be reused to enable an upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro, potentially saving you $100.

 

I've been testing upgrade/activation scenarios on a wide variety of hardware recently to see how things work. Here's the scoop."

 

And the rest of the article shows how, with easy screen shots and detailed steps here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/going-pro-how-to-upgrade-windows-10-home-without-hassles/?tag=nl.e539&s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61

[DJW]

RV

 

I tried doing it with a Win 7 Pro key but it would not work. Turns out the ASUS laptop my sister gave my DW came with Win 8 and not windows 7 so I was unable to upgrade to win 10 pro and her machine. I have Win 10 Pro on my machine because I had a win 7 machine that I upgraded to Win 7 Pro.

 

Dennis

[RV_]

Interesting. Scenario 2 must work only with the native Windows 7 units. More later when I get to play around.

[Biker56]

My HP laptop came with W8 Pro. Later updated to W8.1 Pro and now it is a W10 Pro.

 

I have a HP Desktop W7 Ultimate that hasn't been updated to W10 yet. In fact I haven't had it on since the first of last September.

I may get it back out after my WiFiRanger mini gets here.

 

My HP Desktop I use was a W8.1 Home and now upgraded to a W10 Home. I can't really tell the difference between the W10 Home and W10 Pro.

Other then the start menu, both running Classic Shell look a little different.