Windows 10: Dowgrade acer from w 10 Pro to home and upgrade Asus from home to pro, swop licence keys?...

Dowgrade acer from w 10 Pro to home and upgrade Asus from home to pro, swop licence keys? without reinstalling all programmes?

:)

 

Upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro with Windows 8.1 Pro key

I've got two laptops:

• the old one, with Windows 10 Pro (1909) installed after a free update from Windows 8.1 Pro
• the new one, with Windows 10 Home (1909) installed

I've got the Windows 8.1 Pro product key, and I want to transfer it to the new PC. Microsoft support tried to help me, but here's the conclusions we reached:

• I can't use the 8.1 Pro product key in the setting to upgrade my Windows 10 Home to Pro
• I could use it if I had Windows 10 Pro installed instead of Home
• I can't use the generic Windows 10 Pro product key to start the upgrade, because the new PC doesn't have a Pro licence
• I could upgrade directly from Windows 10 Home to Pro if I had a Windows 10 Pro product key instead of a Windows 8.1 Pro product key
• I can't upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro and activate it later, because the installer (from the media creation tool) automatically understands that I have a Home licence and not a Pro licence, and doesn't let me choose

So, according to the support guy, my only option is to clean install Windows 10 Pro, and then it will recognize my Windows 8.1 Pro key and activate it.

It seems so weird to me that, having a valid Pro licence (in the form of a Windows 8.1 Pro product key), I can't directly upgrade my Windows 10 Home to Pro. Like, I have the licence, it will only work if I enter it after the upgrade, but I can only start the upgrade after entering the licence ??

So here I am, asking if there's a workaround that would allow me to simply upgrade my Windows 10 Home to Pro without losing any files, programs or settings, just like if I had a Windows 10 Pro product key instead of a Windows 8.1 one.

Is there any way to convince the media creation tool or whatever else to download an iso/anything that would upgrade Home to Pro?

Whatever the answer is, thank you


EDIT: Okay so I had a weird idea and I have no idea if it would work, but basically: what if I clean installed Windows 8.1 Pro on another partition on the new PC, activated it to with the product key, updated it to Windows 10 Pro (is that still possible?)... Would that link a Windows 10 Pro licence to my Microsoft account as a digital licence for the new PC, that I could then use to upgrade the other partition to Pro for free through the Microsoft Store?

 

Upgrading Windows 10 Home to Pro?

Well, I just installed 10 Home 16299 as a dual boot in a VM that has Pro installed and activated, and I never have installed Home in this VM, and went to activation menu to try and see what happens if I enter a generic key, and it was activated as Home - that I do not understand!

Anyway, I entered generic key and it accepted it and did upgrade.

It did not accept it on a VM without a PRO digital licence.

So here is how to upgrade Home to Pro if it will not accept OEM licence to upgrade. Key steps only - not detail.

1) create a vhd

2) boot from media creation tool

3) press shift+f10 to get to command prompt

4) attach vhd and install 10 pro in vhd

5) activate 10 pro with oem key

6) reboot to Home

7) enter generic VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T key and Home will upgrade and activate

8) delete pro vhd from step 1, and remove boot entry (msconfig)/

I know this works (apart from step 5 as I do not have a pro oem key - only a retail one but I see no reason why it would not activate assuming key is valid.

 

Can't upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro

Hi Bill,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. We apologize for the inconvenience caused and will assist you in the best possible ways.

I suggest you to download and create an installation media for Windows 10 Pro form the link provided below:

Download Windows 10

After the installation media is created, suggest you to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from the installation media. When the upgrade asks for product key, enter the product key purchased for Windows 10 Pro. If it does not accept, suggest you to skip the activation
step. After the Operating System is installed, suggest you to activate by phone by following the steps below:

• Press “Windows key + R” and type “slui 4” and press Enter.
• Select the Region from the list and click Next.
• Call the Toll-Free number provided on top and can activate via phone.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted on the status for further assistance.