Windows 10: Used wrong product key for Win 10 install, got 10 Home instead of Pro

So, stupid user here.

My old computer started with Win 7 Home Premium (retail); a few years down the road, I bought a Win 8 Pro retail upgrade.

Last week I built a new computer, intending on transferring the license from my old computer to the new one. But stupidly when it came to entering the product key, I entered the Win 7 Home Premium key. I merrily spent the next 6 days installing programs, customizing them & Windows, to get things exactly how I want them. Only to realize last night that I had ended up installing Win 10 Home, not Win 10 Pro (because the Win 7 key did not qualify for Pro).

I tried changing the key to the Win 8 Pro key this morning, but Windows says that key cannot be used for this version of Windows. I'm not positive that I care about anything in Win 10 Pro (maybe Bitlocker, less likely Hyper-V), but as I'm "entitled" to it, I thought it might be a good idea to have it installed, just in case.

But I'm not willing to spend another week doing a re-install of all those programs again. Is there any other method of upgrading to Pro (other than purchasing the upgrade, which I can do in the future if I do have a need for something in Pro)?
Please be kind; I feel stupid enough already. *Doh

Ken

:)

 

Swapping reserved Win10 upgrades between computers

You don't need a product key to install windows 10, but there is def a product key associated to your installation.

You can run BelArc Advisor and the product key will be listed in the results.

I like your train of thought. I wonder if it would actually work as I'm in a similar situation.

I have an old laptop that I made a clean install of Win 7 Pro on in Feb. And, I have a new laptop that was running Win 8.1 Home Edition. I would like to have Win 10 Home and Pro installed on each of them respectively as the old win7 pro machine is used
by my kids and they don't need win 10 pro.

I have already upgraded both of them and acquired their product keys using BelArc Advisor. I wonder if I can go through the upgrade process and instead of actually running the installation, save it on a flash drive, and then install them on the opposite
machines using the product key?

(as an aside, I have tried swapping the product keys from the computer's property screen. The Win 10 Home edition will allow the Pro product key entry to happen. The Win 10 Pro machine will not accept the Win 10 Home edition product key)

 

Install Win 10 Pro 32 bit on 64 bit Notebook

Hello, again.

You say "You can't use the Windows 8 Pro product key to upgrade the Windows 10 Home installation to Pro...", whjch makes sense. However, I notice that the product key in my Windows 10 Pro on the PC, is different from the product key on my Win 8 Pro CDs
received from Microsoft originally. Could I not use the PC Win 10 Pro product key instead of the default key you provided above?

This afternoon I will be removing the Pro product key from my PC, so it will be available if it will work.

Gordon

 

kenOp.
Only thing I can suggest is download Win 10 pro ISO....a repair option perhaps, where you could perhaps give the Pro product key....good luck.
Windows 10 ISO

 

I would suggest following the procedure that Microsoft has for upgrading from Windows 10 Home to Pro:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ng-home-to-pro

Read the last link on the page: "Upgrade using a Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8 Pro, or Windows 8.1 Pro product key"

 

You beat me too it, was just about to suggest entering the 10 Pro generic key. And then after it upgrades entering the 8.1 Pro key to activate it.

 

Even simpler now - just click on "go to store" link in the activation menu, and click on "I have a 10 pro product key" and enter 8.1 key.

 

Man, this is a fantastic group of people! I haven't been around since sevenforums.com; I'm afraid I've missed a lot.

It was extremely time consuming, took nearly 5 minutes, but I'm now running an activated installation of Win 10 Pro. *Biggrin

Thank you guys, so very much.

 

*Thumbs

 

And another, *Thumbs