Two Free Methods to Upgrade Windows 10 from Home to Pro Edition – EaseUS.How to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro for free | ZDNET

Here’s the scoop. Some vendors offer an upgrade option as part of the purchase, but many PCs sold in the retail channel are preloaded with Home edition.

This could also be the case if you took advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade offer on a PC running a Home edition of Windows 7 or Windows 8. In either case, the upgrade takes just a few minutes. You’ll see a succession of progress screens and your system will restart. After the upgrade completes, you should see a Success notification. Check the Activation screen again to confirm that you’re now running Windows 10 Pro.

After you’ve successfully performed a Home-to-Pro upgrade, you can file that product key away. Your upgrade is now a digital license, attached to your unique hardware. If you perform a reinstallation of Windows, Microsoft’s activation servers will recognize the hardware and activate Windows 10 automatically.

I have tested this scenario multiple times on hardware that originally shipped with Windows Home and was upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. After the upgrade was complete, I used a bootable USB flash drive containing Windows 10 setup files to reinstall a clean copy of Windows 10 Pro, skipping the option to enter a product key as part of setup, as shown below. When prompted, be sure to choose Windows 10 Pro as the edition to install. The system was properly activated, because Microsoft’s servers recognized the hardware and used the digital license.

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Start here. The one gotcha in this series of scenarios comes when you have a system that includes digital licenses for both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. In that scenario, you can inadvertently restore Windows 10 Home. This happened recently when I used a recovery image to reinstall Windows 10 on a Surface Pro PC that had originally shipped with Windows 10 Home and had been upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. Not surprisingly, using the recovery image gave me an installation of Windows 10 Home.

If that happens to you, don’t bother searching for the product key you used to upgrade. Instead, use Microsoft’s generic product key to force the upgrade. Next, enter the default Windows 10 Pro product key:. Follow the prompts to upgrade from Home to Pro. Because your hardware already has a digital license for the Pro edition, it will activate automatically.

That generic product key isn’t magical, of course. If your hardware doesn’t already have a Pro license, you’ll get an activation error and you’ll need to supply a proper product key or pay for an upgrade. This article has been completely rewritten to incorporate developments in recent feature updates to Windows Join the discussion.

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Send No thanks. Thank you for your feedback! Product key Find it on a label inside the Windows 10 box. Product key It is available through the web portal for your program. Product key It is preinstalled on your device, included with the device packaging, or included as a card or on the Certificate of Authenticity COA attached to the device. If you bought a refurbished PC, the refurbisher, not Microsoft, must provide you a product key.

From here, you can also see how much this upgrade will cost. Open Activation settings. Use the following chart to determine which activation method you’ll use:. Find it in the confirmation email that contains the order history. If you’re having trouble locating your product key, see Find your Windows product key and Find your Microsoft downloads and product keys. If you’re ready to upgrade, select one of the following headings to get started:. See the following for more help activating your valid product key or digital license for Windows 10 Pro:.

Find it on a label inside the Windows 10 box. A digital license will be given to your device for Windows 10 based on the valid product key you entered.

If you bought your PC from a manufacturer, the manufacturer, not Microsoft, must provide a product key. It is preinstalled on your device, included with the device packaging, or included as a card or on the Certificate of Authenticity COA attached to the device. If you bought a refurbished PC, the refurbisher, not Microsoft, must provide you a product key. Show all. Upgrade using your digital license for Windows 10 Pro. Upgrade using a Windows 10 Pro product key.

Having issues with activation after your upgrade? See the following for more help activating your valid product key or digital license for Windows 10 Pro: Get help with Windows activation errors Activation in Windows Last Updated: Feb 9, Need more help? No results. Join the discussion Ask the community.

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Before upgrading to Windows 10 Pro, make sure your device is up to date and running the most recent version of Windows 10 Home. For more info about how to keep your PC updated, see Windows Update: FAQ. To upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro and activate your device, you’ll need a valid product key or a digital license for Windows 10 Pro. Feb 09,  · Before upgrading to Windows 10 Pro, make sure your device is up to date and running the most recent version of Windows 10 Home. For more info about how to keep your PC updated, see Windows Update: FAQ. To upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro and activate your device, you’ll need a valid product key or a digital license for Windows 10 Pro. An update can consist of bug and security fixes and new features in a version of Windows. They tend to roll out throughout the year. An upgrade is when you change versions—for example, moving from Windows 10 to Windows 11, or moving editions from Windows Home to Windows Pro.