SOLVED

Windows 11 version upgrade (Home to Pro)

Copper Contributor

I have the following problem:

  1. I had a Windows 10 Pro license on a laptop that burned down;
  2. I bought a new laptop that came with Windows 10 Home;
  3. I upgraded from Windows 10 Home to Windows 11 Insider (Home).

 

How can I get my Pro license back without downgrading to Windows 10?

 

I lost the key. The license is linked to my email.

12 Replies
best response confirmed by angelobio (Copper Contributor)
Solution

@angelobio 

Hi,

If the license is linked to your Email, which should be your Microsoft account, then sign into Windows 11 with your Microsoft account (if you haven't already),

if Windows doesn't activate automatically,

 

use this command in an elevated PowerShell (run as admin):

 

Changepk.exe /ProductKey VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

 

that's the generic key for Windows editions, you can use the generic keys to change editions of your Windows if you have already a license in your Microsoft account.

source:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/95922-generic-product-keys-install-windows-10-editions.html

 

after using that, your edition should change to pro. you can check it by going to settings => system => activation

 

if the Windows says not activated, use the troubleshooter and when you see an option "I changed hardware on this device recently", use that to reactive your Windows.

 

you might not need to go through the last option.

 

I've had to reset my Surface Pro 7 (SP7) because the touchscreen and windows hello kept having issues. I went to reset my copy of Windows 11 Pro through using Windows Settings but during the reset it got stuck in a loop and wouldn't complete the reset.

I then did a hard reset (I couldn't get into the computer as it was looping that there was a problem and trying to install again) to bypass this loop. By hard resetting I was finally about to reinstall Windows 11.

Windows 11 Home ended up installed I've tried using the store (which prompted me to install Pro license) it bombed with an error. So, I've tried this method, and the same thing. It bombs showing installing the Pro license and then I go into reboot where it states I'm updating but then it bombs and says it's going to roll back (which is Windows 11 Home).

I can't seem to be able to install the Pro license. I have noticed that every time I try to install the pro license the Virus protection pops up after the above happens and states that the msi file is a threat and removes it.

 

I am now at a loss on how to get my Pro license back.

This finally worked for me! Thanks!

This worked for me thanks
This should be at the very top of every search engine looking for the answer to this problem.

@angelobio This worked for me also with an additional step. I also needed to go into Check for Updates and apply all of them -- especially the 2022-08 cumulative updates for arm64-based processors. After that, I finally activated as well. Thanks so much!

this worked for me like a charm, thanks!
Although i guess that was for Windows 10 to Windows 11 Only but i did it with Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro super smooth transition, thanks!
how to revert back to winn 11 home if i cant activate
8
Buy a Win10Pro or Win11 Pro license then enter to perform an upgrade.

Thank you sir this has solved my issue

@angelobio 

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by angelobio (Copper Contributor)
Solution

@angelobio 

Hi,

If the license is linked to your Email, which should be your Microsoft account, then sign into Windows 11 with your Microsoft account (if you haven't already),

if Windows doesn't activate automatically,

 

use this command in an elevated PowerShell (run as admin):

 

Changepk.exe /ProductKey VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

 

that's the generic key for Windows editions, you can use the generic keys to change editions of your Windows if you have already a license in your Microsoft account.

source:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/95922-generic-product-keys-install-windows-10-editions.html

 

after using that, your edition should change to pro. you can check it by going to settings => system => activation

 

if the Windows says not activated, use the troubleshooter and when you see an option "I changed hardware on this device recently", use that to reactive your Windows.

 

you might not need to go through the last option.

 

View solution in original post