How to upgrade 1511 from Home to Pro?

After doing several installs with V.1511 recently it does offer a choice of Home or Pro if there is no embedded Product Key.  So clearly it was programmed to read the 8/8.1 embedded Product Key and then not offer the choice so that confused consumers wouldn't install the wrong version - something which was causing problems when creating media in the Release Version evidenced by no Skip or Do This Later button on Product Key panel during install. 

So it was this and possibly other ancillary issues with Digital Entitlement which likely caused the V.1511 ISO's to be pulled down by the end of the week after I elevated this issue earlier in the week. 

Again, what we are seeing is obviously the result of a feature that was not able to be tested in Insider Previews because they used Product Keys, so effectively Digital Entitlement had had no stress testing during the year of Previews when it was released and placed under demand by tens of millions.  This caused an avalanche of failures that swamped the Installation Forum for over a month and had Engineers in 80+ page threads gathering information to reprogram servers as we tried to calm and do workarounds with some very upset consumers. 

What's surprising then is that when Version 1511 with new features rushed in to ease Entitlement Activation problems was previewed in at least two Insider Previews, instead of actually testing Entitlement Activation it again used Product Keys!  So there should be no surprise that more unintended consequences arose and fell to us to sort and then elevate.

As an aside, over a month ago in the MVP Yammer communications channel set up for us to communicate with the Product Team,  I actually asked specifically if the new feature was going to be tested enough to avoid unintended consequences.  For this I was pounced upon by another MVP who informed me I knew nothing about Windows as a Service.   Would that there have been more fulsome discussion at that time about this and MS might not have suffered such embarrassment here.

From your Windows 10 Home running Version 1511, enter the Windows 10 Pro Default key under change product key.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T  This default key will not activate the system, just take you to Pro so you can activate using a valid Pro key that you will provide.

Once you have done this, the system will go through an upgrade process from Home to Pro, but will not be activated on Pro.  You can now enter your Windows 8 Pro key into your Windows 10 Pro system and it will activate.

I hope this helps

Charles

I'm having the same as the OP.  I will try this too.  But just to ask, will subsequent clean installs have to follow the same path, or will it then know that a previous Pro version has been used and prefer that over the embedded BIOS key.

Maybe the Home to Pro upgrade process ought to overwrite the embedded BIOS key.  Is that even possible?

PS: Just to confirm what I'm seeing:

PC came bundle with Windows 10 Home

Clean installed Windows 8.1 Pro and activated (wiping existing partitions)

Use MCT to upgrade to Windows 10

MCT wizard moaned that I can't keep settings and apps because I'm going to a different edition of Windows 10

The last page of the MCT wizard, before starting install says, "To confirm, you're going to: Install Windows 10 Home"

So it's clearly preferring the embedded key to the version that's currently installed.  I expect that after following Charles' advice after the upgrade to get to Pro, then doing a clean install will force Home Edition.

I'm actually an IT Pro and I'm thinking of the implications this has for corporate deployment.  We have a Microsoft Site Agreement and I'm thinking that if we buy PCs with Pro on (that have an embedded key), but deploy Enterprise as part of our agreement, will it force Pro, with us having to visit each machine after deployment to activate Enterprise!

Were you using the Nov release v1511 and if you were I assume you didn't get the option to input your Win 8.1 Pro key.

It's confusing why you're Clean Installing WIndows 8.1 on a Windows 10 PC to get back to Windows 10.  Please clarify.

The issue in this thread was V.1511 hiding versions and if detecting embedded Key only offering that version to try to prevent users from installing the wrong one.  This issue is corrected by the workaround which Charles posted that is marked the Answer of this thread.