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. Anonymous
    2016-03-07T09:06:41+00:00

    Funny you should mention that. I just had a scenario where I had made a System Image Backup using the built-in (Windows 10 Pro) tool in Control Panel from a new single Seagate 2TB hard drive (just the basic Windows program with no additional apps installed so I'd have a clean "base" to start from) but later when I added a 2nd identical Seagate hard drive to use in a RAID 1 configuration the image refused to restore, citing "size mismatch" as a reason.  That was totally crazy since both drives were identical models and of the exact same capacity, forcing me to do yet another clean install of the OS (and yes, I had to grind my way through the accursed Product Key procedure we've been cussing & discussing here to get Pro to reinstall properly).  Since the RAID 1 drive is by definition the exact same size as the single drive, I remain mystified as to why the image refused to restore...

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-07T08:56:44+00:00

    Hmmmm.  I do have a W8 AIO.  I just never use it on my systems because I'm not a fan.  I just use it on people who want it's machines.  Still one more option.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-07T08:53:59+00:00

    Yeah, I would've thought the conversion from Pro to Home was suspect if I hadn't seen it twice.  Here's how it's supposed to work, except it is buggy and doesn't.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/Windows-10-specifications#upgrade

    mm

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-03-07T08:49:33+00:00

    This thing looks like it's beginning to "grow legs" at last with some of the progress I've noted here; I hope y'all can finally convince the "guys upstairs" to just give-in and do the right thing with future upgrade release paths.  Hopefully they can see from the myriad upgrade scenarios and the chaos which has developed as a result here that an uncluttered "straight path" to a Pro re-install is the way to go.  The newbies and one-off ex post facto upgraders who are stuck with Home Edition can do their homework and figure out what's happening on their own; Microsoft should make it as easy as possible for the IT guys like us who do this for a living to get our jobs done as quickly and easily as possible without having to resort to all of this arcane trickery.  After all, it's we who are responsible for the promotion and ongoing installation and maintenance of their flagship product.  As a matter of fact, why not just do away with the 2nd-rate Home Edition altogether so none of this would even be necessary?  Pro is much more robust and easier to maintain anyway and it would have to cut down on a good deal of their support headaches; just having 2 main PC-based editions (Pro & Enterprise) is the logical way to go, from any coherent perspective...

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-03-07T08:34:07+00:00

    Michael -

    While this may be a way if you have an embedded Windows 8 key to assure you end up with Pro without needing to do the workaround, I always remind that we no longer need to do the inferior in-place Upgrade because with Version 1511 you can do the vastly superior Clean Install Windows 10 Upgrade.

    You can optimize the Upgrade somewhat so that it lessens the chance of it choking or passing issues following Overcoming Windows 10 Upgrade Failures. Running the media and choosing to save nothing is nearly the same as the Clean Install but doesn't clear the hard drive, and should also lock in Pro version, although we have recently seem some very strange cases where users claimed that the OS converted from Pro<>Home during an in-place Upgrade which seems utterly impossible. 

    Afaik, it's not another route.

      See my reply above.

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