Windows 10: Where to find Windows 11 Pro Licence Key after upgrading to Pro from Home

I upgraded to Windows 11 Pro from Windows Home, received email for the order purchase but there is no key in the email. Where do I find the licence key for Windows 11 Pro?

:)

 

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?

 

Windows 11 Pro vs. Windows 11 Pro Upgrade

Hi Joel,

I am Dave, I will help you with this.

Yes, the Pro upgrade licence, the the full Pro Retail licence and the Pro OEM licence ae different.

If you purchase a Pro Upgrade licence from inside the Settings App, that will be associated to your Microsoft Account and the upgrade will occur as soon as you purchase that licence.

If you purchase a full Windows Pro Retail licence, then you can insert the product key into the activation page in the Settings app to perform the upgrade.

If you purchase a Pro OEM licence, you cannot use that to upgrade, you would need to clean install Windows 11 Pro from a bootable USB.

 

Possible to transfer over Windows 11 Pro licence from dead laptop to new laptop?

My old laptop which was running Windows 11 Home originally out of the box, which then I upgraded to Windows 11 Pro through the $99 Microsoft Store upgrade has died and will not turn on again. I am getting a new laptop with Windows 11 Home on it, but I still want a Windows 11 Pro licence on it. Is it possible to transfer the licence? I don't want to spend another $99 to upgrade my new laptop to Pro. I am willing to take out the SSD if needed to retreive the product key/licence. Does anyone have more detailed steps on how to transfer over the licence if it is possible?

Thanks,

Kiet