Solved Activation of online purchased Windows 11 Pro license after full system reinstallation

tidozonoada · Jan 15, 2026

I apologize for asking a question that in all likelihood has already been asked before, but my attempts to find a previous thread with a solution to my exact situation were not yet successful.

My laptop came with Windows 11 Home installed when I purchased it. Some time afterwards I purchased an upgrade to Windows 11 Pro in the online Microsoft Store. I have forgotten how exactly I activated this Windows 11 Pro license back then though.

Just now I have completely reinstalled Windows 11 by means of a bootable USB-stick that I prepared using the Media Creation Tool from the Microsoft website. Windows 11 Home was already automatically activated after this reinstallation.

Now however I want to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro again, and I'm unsure as to how exactly I can do that. My Windows 11 Pro purchase is listed in my order history in my Microsoft account, but there I'm unable to find any kind of product or license key. Basically the only information given (as far as I can see) are purchase date, purchase number, my personal details and the purchased product name "Windows 10/11 Pro".

How can I activate my purchased Windows 11 Pro license again?

gunrunnerjohn · Jan 15, 2026

Just do the upgrade to Pro and you should be good.

Ghot · Jan 15, 2026

tidozonoada said:
How can I activate my purchased Windows 11 Pro license again?

Upgrade Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro

This tutorial will show you how to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro without losing anything. You can directly upgrade your device from Windows 11 Home to the Windows 11 Pro edition without losing anything. Upgrading to Windows 11 Pro will include features only in the Pro edition...

www.elevenforum.com

andrew129260 · Jan 15, 2026

To activate it, sign in to your PC with the same Microsoft account, navigate to Settings > System > Activation, and select Troubleshoot if it does not automatically upgrade from Home.

Bree · Jan 15, 2026

tidozonoada said:
My laptop came with Windows 11 Home installed when I purchased it. Some time afterwards I purchased an upgrade to Windows 11 Pro in the online Microsoft Store. I have forgotten how exactly I activated this Windows 11 Pro license back then though.

Just now I have completely reinstalled Windows 11 by means of a bootable USB-stick that I prepared using the Media Creation Tool from the Microsoft website. Windows 11 Home was already automatically activated after this reinstallation.

Now however I want to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro again, and I'm unsure as to how exactly I can do that.... How can I activate my purchased Windows 11 Pro license again?

Welcome to Eleven Forum.

When you first upgraded from Home to Pro your PC got a digital licence for Pro stored on the Microsoft activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of your PC.

The clean install gave you Home because it found the original Home product key embedded in your PC's firmware. To upgrade to Pro you just need to change the installed key to a key for Pro.

Because your PC already has an existing digital licence for Pro you can use the generic Pro key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Generic Product Keys to Install or Upgrade Windows 11 Editions

A generic key cannot activate Windows on its own, but if you are online Windows can check for and find the existing digital licence. It will then upgrade to and activate Pro for you.

cereberus · Jan 15, 2026

Bree said:
Welcome to Eleven Forum.

When you first upgraded from Home to Pro your PC got a digital licence for Pro stored on the Microsoft activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of your PC.

The clean install gave you Home because it found the original Home product key embedded in your PC's firmware. To upgrade to Pro you just need to change the installed key to a key for Pro.

Because your PC already has an existing digital licence for Pro you can use the generic Pro key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Generic Product Keys to Install or Upgrade Windows 11 Editions

A generic key cannot activate Windows on its own, but if you are online Windows can check for and find the existing digital licence. It will then upgrade to and activate Pro for you.

This ^^^^^

tidozonoada · Jan 15, 2026

Thank you all for your replies. The issue is now resolved and Windows 11 Pro is successfully activated.

What worked for me was a solution described in the help article linked to by Ghot: I opened up and signed in on the Microsoft Store app on my laptop. Then after selecting product Windows 11 Pro there was a button for installing Windows 11 Pro, which after clicking took care of the upgrade and activation without further prompts.

glasskuter · Jan 15, 2026

FYI for the future. Rather than creating installation media using media creating tool, download the official iso from MS and use Rufus to create an install usb. That install is a universal windows iso. During install, you select which version of Windows you want to install. Select Pro and away you go. No fiddle-faddling afterwards.

tidozonoada · Jan 15, 2026

glasskuter said:
FYI for the future. Rather than creating installation media using media creating tool, download the official iso from MS and use Rufus to create an install usb. That install is a universal windows iso. During install, you select which version of Windows you want to install. Select Pro and away you go. No fiddle-faddling afterwards.

Sounds like good tip. Thanks.

gunrunnerjohn · Jan 15, 2026

I've done two systems here by just telling Windows to change the key and pasting the Win11 Pro retail key. The operation proceeds and "presto", it's upgraded to Pro. No USB disk, no muss, no fuss.

Winuser · Jan 15, 2026

gunrunnerjohn said:
I've done two systems here by just telling Windows to change the key and pasting the Win11 Pro retail key. The operation proceeds and "presto", it's upgraded to Pro. No USB disk, no muss, no fuss.

That won't work if one doesn't have the retail key. When I purchased a Windows Pro upgrade from the MS store there was no key. The setup just did the upgrade. The only problem I did encounter was that it upgraded to the Enterprise version. I checked my email and my online account and there was no key of any version listed. I called MS and the tech told me that I just needed to enter the Win 11 Pro generic key to downgrade to the Pro version that I had purchased.

tidozonoada · Jan 15, 2026

Winuser said:
That won't work if one doesn't have the retail key. When I purchased a Windows Pro upgrade from the MS store there was no key. The setup just did the upgrade. The only problem I did encounter was that it upgraded to the Enterprise version. I checked my email and my online account and there was no key of any version listed. I called MS and the tech told me that I just needed to enter the Win 11 Pro generic key to downgrade to the Pro version that I had purchased.

Yes, that's exactly what was also a stumbling block for me. One of the first things that I did was look for a Windows 11 Pro product/license key in my Microsoft account and my purchase-related Microsoft e-mails, but also in my case there was no Windows 11 Pro key to be found anywhere.

Winuser · Jan 15, 2026

tidozonoada said:
Yes, that's exactly what was also a stumbling block for me.

Did you upgrade install the Pro or Enterprise version? I'm still wondering why my computer got the Enterprise version instead of the Pro version.

tidozonoada · Jan 15, 2026

Winuser said:
Did you upgrade install the Pro or Enterprise version? I'm still wondering why my computer got the Enterprise version instead of the Pro version.

In my case the upgrade installation only ever gave me the Pro version that I also purchased. Both the first time, and this recent second time.

gunrunnerjohn · Jan 15, 2026

I was using Stack Social keys, and they were Retail keys.

garlin · Jan 15, 2026

glasskuter said:
FYI for the future. Rather than creating installation media using media creating tool, download the official iso from MS and use Rufus to create an install usb. That install is a universal windows iso. During install, you select which version of Windows you want to install. Select Pro and away you go. No fiddle-faddling afterwards.

This isn't accurate. Even if you have a multi-edition Windows ISO, Setup.exe is programmed to search (in order) for the following items:

- selected install image, by name or by index number in the unattended file
- edition based on specific product activation key in unattended file or \sources\PID.txt
- edition based on generic install key in unattended file
- edition based on presence of a Windows product key in the BIOS

So if your USB drive doesn't have an unattended file, then Setup (by default) wants to "help you" by choosing the same Windows edition (Home) as your BIOS key (Home). You can override this behavior by adding a bare-bones unattended file. Rufus doesn't support this feature (I'm sure pbatard knows how, but hasn't done it for whatever reasons).

If you didn't purchase a PC that came with a factory product key, then a clean ISO will allow you to select whatever Windows you want.

Otherwise, you have to wait until installation is done and manually enter the Pro key (like above).

Megahertz · Jan 16, 2026

As Bree has explained, when you're doing a clean install it will look at the firmware to find out witch version came with the computer and install that version.
In your case, if you want to do a a clean install directly to Pro, add a ei.cfg file to \Sources folder on your Windows 11 installation media (USB flash drive).

Open a text file application and type

Code:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
Retail

Save as ei.cfg (not ei.cfg.txt) and move it to \Sources folder on your Windows 11 installation media (USB flash drive).

Solved Activation of online purchased Windows 11 Pro license after full system reinstallation

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