Windows 10: Method of buying Home to Pro Upgrade that gets a Re-usable Key?

Hi all. I'm sure it's not new information, but the Microsoft store in the UK has just told me that they will sell a Win 10 Home to Pro upgrade (if I can find it on the site, it's far from obvious where it's offered - clearly not high on their priority list), but not provide a product key with it. I've just bought a new Asus notebook with Win 10 Home installed as OEM.

Meaning that getting clean install of Win 10 Pro on it requires first clean installing WIn 10 Home using the OEM key and then buying the upgrade to Pro.

Which still isn't much use since without a key for Pro I'd have to buy the upgrade yet again in say 12m if I did another clean install for maintenance purposes. I couldn't install the Pro on another PC if I bought one either.

It seems very harsh of Microsoft to force an existing Win 10 Home customer to buy either a highly compromised upgrade which makes no sense at all, or failing that the full Pro licence at double the price (around £200) to get the Pro key. Especially given all the free upgrades sloshing about in 2015.

Does anybody know of a way around this?

Thanks

:)

 

Reactivating MS Windows

It's actually an Intel NUC kit I bought and installed Windows home on. Later I upgraded to Pro by buying an upgrade key.

The old NUC kit died so is not usable.

 

windows 10 pro activation

How did you "Upgrade" from Windows 10 Home to Pro?

This should be done from the Store app where you can buy Pro version and unlock its extra features.

The other method is to install a Pro Product Key for retail Windows 10 Pro version.

If you used any other method to change from Home to Pro then you still need to buy a Pro Product Key to insert to activate it Settings.

Windows 10 Pro: Upgrade or Purchase - Microsoft Store

 

You currently have a Windows 10 Home OEM license. That means it is for that computer only. If you UPGRADE that computer to Windows 10 Pro by purchasing an UPGRADE for it at the reduced price of an upgrade instead of a full version, then that upgrade is also OEM and for that computer only.

The good news is that you only have to purchase the upgrade once. Once you do the upgrade, that computer is licensed for Windows 10 Pro for the life of that computer and you can re-install Windows 10 Pro at any time in the future on the same computer without having to purchase it again.

If you want the ability to move the Windows 10 Pro to another computer in the future, then you need to purchase the full retail Windows 10 Pro.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ng-home-to-pro

There are several vendors other than Microsoft that you can purchase a Windows 10 Pro product key from, you just have to google Windows 10 Pro product key. I cannot comment on the reputation of any of the sellers you might see on google.

 

Not sure what a "highly compromised upgrade" means.

MS is phasing out the 'product key' in favour of a licensing system based on the hardware (i.e Motherboard) that Windows 10 is installed upon, and stored by MS online on their activation server system.

They want you to register this by linking it to your Microsoft Account (MSA) then use your MSA if you need to transfer your retail product to replacement hardware.

You buy a retail license, install the OS software onto your new hardware, log on with your MSA, and there should be an automatic Activation. Then you can log off the MSA if you wish, and the hardware remains activated.

If not automatic, you use your phone as in the cases of activation not happening in the past.

I don't think MS has worked out all the bugs yet - like removing digital license activation from hardware that has been deprecated by the user.

Which you could see as a bonus... *Wink

 

You can buy OEM Pro licence starting at $10, I would not recommend it for a corporate/public computer though.
EU court said, that used keys can be sold and there is nothing that MS can do about it, just to activate them. *Smile

 

Ta for coming back so quickly guys. I meant compromised F in that I'd understood from MS support this morning that it wasn't possible to re-install the upgrade on the same computer. It's not so bad LCDR if the computer is in fact licensed for life - I only need a single machine licence anyway. The guy I spoke to talked about my losing the upgrade in the event that it needed re-intstalling on the notebook/if the notebook needed work - and pushed the full retail Pro pretty hard.

Sounds like I'd better call MS support again and double check it in case there's some difference (doubt it) on the UK site. Alternatively perhaps I misunderstood.

It'd be nice if the licence would transfer to another PC, but I suppose that could open the way to abuse. Although it'd seem (?) that registering the new computer on the relevant MSA and cancelling the old should get around that. That would disable the old computer though, which might be problematical too.

Ta for the link, but that key site looks a little on the adventurous side for me TO. *Smile I'm happy to pay for an upgrade - it's just that I was bothered (as I thought) that the OEM Home on the Asus was essentially allocated no value/credit (if a full retail Pro licence had to be bought), and especially at the suggestion that the Pro upgrade could not be re-installed.

 

I've upgraded from Home to Pro by just entering a Pro key. The change product code option. My PC then upgraded to Pro without the need for install media. The Pro features are just unlocked. It then activated and got a new Pro Digital License. I can, and have clean installed Pro and activated with that Digital License with no issues. I can now install Pro and skip entering a key.

Keep in mind though, the current Windows 10 install media will read and use an OEM embedded key if one exists. In my case my laptop has an 8.0 Core key, so I get 10 Home by default. To avoid this I add a PID.txt file to my install media with the 10 Pro generic key. That overrides the auto detection of my OEM key and installs Pro instead of Home. Perfectly legal and saves me time. This only works if you have a DL for Pro, if you don't it won't activate.

 

Hi A. I guess that's the advantage of buying the full retail copy of Pro and getting the key for it. I think (after some thought) that I'll go that route rather than the Pro upgrade to keep it simple.

To the earlier stuff. I called MS Store UK tech support again just now and asked about he limitations of the Pro Upgrade - got a guy who wasn't rushing.

He confirmed that the Pro Upgrade can be repeatedly clean re-installed. He pointed out though that a clean install will remove the Home key and/or other identifying information (?) from the computer, and advised setting up an MS account. That way there would be a record of purchases. It'd still require re-insalling the OEM licensed copy of Home first though. (hope I got that right)

He also confirmed that the Upgrade is non -transferable to other computers.

 

And he got that one wrong too. First, if the computer came from the manufacturer with Windows 10 Home, the product key for Windows 10 Home is stored in UEFI and cannot be removed. A reinstall of Windows 10 will, by default, install the version it fingds a product key for in UEFI/BIOS and it will activate. The user must take active steps to get Windows 10 Pro to install if there is a product key for Home stored in UEFI/BIOS. Second, there are plenty of us members here, including myself, who upgraded our Windows 7 and 8 Home versions to Windows 10 Home and then subsequently upgraded to Windows 10 Pro later. Our computers, including mine, will activate via digital license on both Home and Pro versions.

 

*Ditto The OEM Embedded key is not altered or erased by installing Windows. Or any OS. Even flashing the BIOS will not remove it. I have several PC's with multiple Digital Licenses. All legally obtained and valid. Having one for Pro does not negate also having one for Home, or Education for that matter. My laptop started with Windows 8.0 Core OEM. It was upgraded to 8.0 Pro (via key), then 8.1 Pro (free upgrade), then 10 Pro (free upgrade). On a clean install 10 Home was installed because of the 8.0 OEM key. It activated with a DL because the free upgrade was still active. Thus I ended up with a Home and a Pro DL. I just used the generic Pro key to upgrade back to Pro. It then activated with the Pro DL it already had. I did another install with stock install media (newer build) after that and the same thing happened. Home installed and activated with a DL.

 

Ho hum. Thanks guys. Seems like MS support may not be all that reliable.

Is getting past the Home key in the UEFI difficult, or just a matter of selecting one of whatever number of presented options?

 

Create a PID.txt file containing the following text:

[PID]
Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

The Xs get replaced with your Windows 10 Pro product key. If your Windows 10 Pro activation is with a digital license, then insert the generic product key: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

Save the PID.txt file to the \Sources folder on your Windows 10 installation media (USB flash drive).

Windows 10 decides which version (Home or Pro) to install in the following order:

1. Finding a product key in the PID.txt file
2. Finding a product key in UEFI/BIOS
3. The user manually enters a product key when asked for one
4. No product key is found or entered - then the user is asked for Home or Pro

 

If you install with stock unmodified install media and an embedded key is detected, you won't be asked for a key of given a choice of what version is installed. It will auto install the version matching the detected key. In that case you do as posted above. You add a PID.txt file to your install media. Very easy to do if your using a USB thumb drive.

 

In other words... "Big Brother" - total (remote) control... just a way of forcing MSA, IMHO....good luck to those requiring MS support btw.