Upgrade 11 Home to Pro for free?

poe · Dec 28, 2021

I successfully upgraded my 10 Home machine to 10 Pro a few years ago for free using a Win 7 Pro key.

I don't suppose there is a known way to upgrade 11 Home to Pro for free?

The-Hive · Dec 28, 2021

Is that the same machine? then it should work the same, if not it will warn you and not upgrade or BUY a key

poe · Dec 28, 2021

Is that the same machine?

Sorry, I omitted that info - it's a new Windows 11 Home machine. So, yes, I will buy a key. Thanks.

(I would have bought a new machine with 11 Pro except it would have cost me $300 more than the Home machine due to a Black Friday deal).

SIW2 · Dec 28, 2021

If you can find a spare win7/8/8.1 key you could try that. @NavyLCDR got one for ten bucks or something like that. perhaps you could ask him how it works.

TonyB · Dec 31, 2021

a friend of mine tried a 8.1 pro key for windows 11 and it did not work, so i wound up buying a pro upgrade myself. suppose it could be hit and miss with ms activation servers.

cereberus · Dec 31, 2021

TonyB said:
a friend of mine tried a 8.1 pro key for windows 11 and it did not work, so i wound up buying a pro upgrade myself. suppose it could be hit and miss with ms activation servers.

More likely key did not match e.g. a MAK key, or key has been blocked. A full retail 8.1 key should work fine, and even in most cases an OEM key would work.

imanlien2020 · Dec 31, 2021

poe said:
I successfully upgraded my 10 Home machine to 10 Pro a few years ago for free using a Win 7 Pro key.

I don't suppose there is a known way to upgrade 11 Home to Pro for free?

Recent Article. No you cant . Your running Win10 Home, You can upgrade to Win11 Home for free but Pro is a paid version.
https://www.intowindows.com/can-i-upgrade-from-windows-10-home-to-windows-11-pro-for-free/

Bree · Dec 31, 2021

TonyB said:
a friend of mine tried a 8.1 pro key for windows 11 and it did not work....

A clean install of Pro using a W7 or W8/8.1 key usually won't work. But once Home is installed it can be upgraded to Pro by changing the installed key to a W7/8/8.1 Pro key.

poe said:
I successfully upgraded my 10 Home machine to 10 Pro a few years ago for free using a Win 7 Pro key.

No, it was not 'free'. You 'paid' for it by using up a Win 7 Pro key.

NavyLCDR · Dec 31, 2021

Bree said:
A clean install of Pro using a W7 or W8/8.1 key usually won't work. But once Home is installed it can be upgraded to Pro by changing the installed key to a W7/8/8.1 Pro key.

If you do the clean install with the generic product key or disconnect from the internet and upgrade using the generic product key, then you can activate the clean install or upgrade with the Windows 7/8/8.1 product key. However, entering the product key during the Windows setup phase, or to attempt to trigger the upgrade sometimes will not work.