Windows 10: How to refund Windows 11 Home license unactivated so as to get Pro instead?

I purchased a Windows 11 Home license, only to discover that Parallels doesn't actually support it. How do I refund this so that I can purchase Windows Pro, without having to eat the cost of the Home version? The MS Order History page is sending me in circles.

:)

 

Upgrading an unactivated Windows 10 Home to Windows 11 Pro

Hello there. This is Emily.

Yes, you can run the unactivated Windows 10 for now with limited features, mostly you can't do any personalization.

When you get the Windows 11 Pro key, you can actually use it to license your Windows 10 first and turn it to Windows 10 pro. Then you can upgrade to Windows 11. Windows 10 and 11 basically use the same license.

 

Free upgrade from Windows 11 Home to 11 Pro using 10 Pro retail license

My current computer has an activated Windows 10 Pro retail license. I'm planning to replace my current computer by buying a new computer that comes preinstalled with Windows 11 Home, and then I understand I can use my 10 Pro license to upgrade to 11 Pro for free.

What's the most straightforward way of accomplishing this? The obvious approach that comes to mind involves two steps:

1. Reinstall Windows 10 Pro on new computer and activate with my existing retail license.
   
2. Upgrade new computer to 11 Pro for free through the settings.
   

Is there a simpler way of doing this without having to reinstall Windows 10? For example, would it be possible to somehow "trade in" my Windows 10 Pro license for 11 Pro? I'm fairly new to Windows licensing and am just trying to understand what is possible/best practice, with minimal effort.

 

Windows 10 Pro digital license transfer

Hi Chg,

There isn't an exact clarity on this by Microsoft but I believe the Pro upgrade inherits the type of license from the base*, which is OEM. However, Microsoft once also stated that in OEMs there are exceptions and a license transfer may be possible.

The following approach is what I suggest.

• First of all, add the older device having Windows 10 Pro in your Microsoft account again.
• On the new device, use the following generic key to upgrade to Pro VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
  
• You would see Windows unactivated. Run the activation troubleshooter and select I recently changed hardware.
• Select the older device and see if it activates.

Remember: If my assumption * is true, you may be left in an unactivated OS. In that case, you might need a factory reset or call Microsoft to get a pass.

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