How to upgrade 1511 from Home to Pro?

Anonymous
2015-11-16T20:31:01+00:00

I'm not having any luck figuring out how to upgrade from Home to Pro with an existing key.  My system has been running Home and is currently running version 1511.  I've decided to go ahead and use an existing key to upgrade to Pro.  I did a clean install, expecting to be asked to specify a version and provide a key during install, but was never asked for either.  The installer simply formatted the hard drive and installed Home and activated it, with no input from me after the install started other than agree to the terms and tell it my language.

OK, no problem I thought, I'll just go to the Activation setting and give it the new key from there.  However, if I tell it I want to change the key it comes back and says the key I'm giving it can only activate Pro and I'm running Home.  If I go the Store route and tell it I already have a Pro key, it gives me the same message - it tells me my key is for Pro but I'm running Home.  Nowhere along the way does it offer to take my key and give me the upgrade, rather it implies that I must somehow magically upgrade it myself before changing the key.  And that would be fine if I could figure out how to do that.

Anyone know how to force an install of Pro when the installer automatically installs Home with no option given to change it?

Volunteer Moderator/MVP Edit 4/21 -

One must insert the Generic Version Key to first change to Pro.  After Version 1803 if you don't yet have a Digital License for Pro it will not change to Pro version by inserting the default Version key.  So access Action Center at right end of task bar to turn on Airplane Mode to go offline, copy and paste the Generic Pro Key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T in Settings > Update & Security > Activation > Change Product Key which will change Home to Pro, then go back online and it will activate with your Pro Product Key or Digital License.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

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  1. Greg Carmack 24,780 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-05T04:57:43+00:00

    Michael -

      You say you intended to Clean Reinstall  Pro but then checked and it's Version 1511 Home?  

    If so then this may be because Version 1511 will force Clean install of Home without giving a Menu to choose versions if you have a WIndows 8 Home embedded Product Key.  MVP's have complained about this to the developers who think this will help keep users from installing the wrong version. 

    To resolve it first insert the Pro Generic key to install Windows 10 which will change the version to Pro.  Then after connecting to internet it should soon reactivate Pro with the Digital Entitlement if you had previously activated 10 Pro on that PC.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-11-20T20:30:20+00:00

    Hi Charles

    Thank You very much for this solution. This will make a lot of users very happy. :)

    Best

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-17T17:57:23+00:00

    Would you have to install Windows 7 Ultimate and then carry out the free upgrade.?

    But I'm supposed to be able to do a clean install.  The upgraded route is what I have now, and it's already an upgrade on top of an upgrade (7 to 10 to threshold 2).  And if the new installer will never recognize my device as eligible for pro without reinstalling 7 and upgrading, that means once the upgrade is no longer free I can never reinstall.

    Previously, I had the manual choice of installing Home or Pro - and I actually have (well, as of right now I guess that's 'had') both installed.  The OEM is 8.1 upgraded to 10 Home, in a dual boot using my 7 Ultimate upgraded to 10 Pro.  After the clean installs I just did, I now have 2 instances of 10 Home instead of one of each.  Previously, I could do a clean install of both Home and Pro on its appropriate partition, and the store apparently has no problem with this and can see that both versions have an entitlement.  The new installer, however, apparently runs roughshod over the store and simply refuses to install the Pro version despite the fact that the store obviously has a record of the entitlement for both Home and Pro on this hardware - thus why I assume the new installer decides what to install based on the BIOS, and thus why I figured I would just have to input my qualifying key and do the in-place upgrade to Pro.  However, it seems that the new installer has rendered my retail product useless and is now considering every install my system makes to be an install based on the OEM version.

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  4. Neil D 34,280 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-11-17T16:08:36+00:00

    Would you have to install Windows 7 Ultimate and then carry out the free upgrade.?

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-11-17T13:06:29+00:00

    Hi Darren

    I don't think this will work as you described.

    When you upgrade using the free version of Windows 10 this installs the same version of Windows that is on the computer that is being upgraded, Home to Home and Pro to Pro.

    After it is installed, then you have Windows 10. Trying to upgrade from Home to Pro, using a Windows 7 Key, will not work to change to the Pro version. You need to have a Key for Windows 10 Pro.

    Regards

    So how do I get from Home to Pro?  I only tried using the key for the after-the-fact upgrade when I found that I can't install Pro outright with the new installer.  When I format the hard drive and do a clean install, the installer does not ask me which version I want and does not ask me for a key - rather it simply installs Home automatically (I assume, but don't know for sure, that this is because it checks the BIOS and finds that the factory installed OS qualifies for Win10 Home and therefore the hardware already has a digital entitlement for Home and the installer then incorrectly assumes I want the version of Win10 based on what came preinstalled).

    Considering that digital entitlement now allows clean installs by accepting the qualifying product keys, how do I do this on a system that already has a digital entitlement for a different version?

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