Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 11 Pro?


Bill4321

Well-known member
Local time
10:09 PM
Posts
29
Location
South Coast, UK
OS
Windows 11 Pro
Hi Guys

I've been on the Dev channel for Win11 since it was first offered a few weeks back and so far am loving it. Yeah there has been the odd small issue but nothing that I can't work around. My laptop is just a few months old and fully compliant with the specs required to run it. All's good.

The thing is, this laptop shipped with Win10 Home and I want to upgrade to Win11 Pro.

So the question is, do you think that I can buy a Windows10 Pro key from an online retailer and use that? I'm thinking that it'll be ok but I'm not 100% sure.

If I can, can anyone suggest a decent retailer? Looking online through Ebay or whatever is a minefield. I just want to buy a genuine retail key through a genuine seller.

Thanks

Bill
 
Windows Build/Version
22000.168

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Omen
    CPU
    I7-10750H
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX2070
I think you need a copy of the pro version of Windows for the pro key to work. You likely will not be able to use the pro key with the home version and get pro. As for purchase,., avoid Ebay.. use Amazon etc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home(Beta) - 23H2 - 22635.3350
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Banana Junior 5600- G Series
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
    Motherboard
    Asus ROG Strix B550-F
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 64GB 4x16
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viotek 32", 28" ASUS VP28U
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    Primary SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus
    PSU
    EVGA BQ 700w 80+ Bronze
    Case
    Zalman i3 NEO
    Cooling
    ARCTIC Freezer 7 X
    Keyboard
    Corsair
    Mouse
    Amazon Generic with Cord
    Internet Speed
    Download: 295.11 mbps Upload: 65.35 mbps T-Mobile Internet
    Browser
    Firefox and Edge
    Antivirus
    MS - Defender
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1
Hi BunnyJ

Ah ok, I'll put this down to a cunning plan that failed then :) No worries though, I'll see if I can upgrade through the MS store thingy.

Thanks for taking the time out to reply.

Cheers

Bill
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Omen
    CPU
    I7-10750H
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX2070
Hi BunnyJ

Ah ok, I'll put this down to a cunning plan that failed then :) No worries though, I'll see if I can upgrade through the MS store thingy.

Thanks for taking the time out to reply.

Cheers

Bill
Keep in mind I could be wrong but my impression is that the unique key is assigned to pro or home and they wouldn't be interchangeable but if the OS updates to pro after the key change that would fix that.

I still would get a full copy of pro from a reputable vendor so you have it to install clean if necessary and keep in mind.. I don't think there are enough differences between the two to justify going from home to pro.

Edit...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home(Beta) - 23H2 - 22635.3350
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Banana Junior 5600- G Series
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
    Motherboard
    Asus ROG Strix B550-F
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 64GB 4x16
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viotek 32", 28" ASUS VP28U
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    Primary SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus
    PSU
    EVGA BQ 700w 80+ Bronze
    Case
    Zalman i3 NEO
    Cooling
    ARCTIC Freezer 7 X
    Keyboard
    Corsair
    Mouse
    Amazon Generic with Cord
    Internet Speed
    Download: 295.11 mbps Upload: 65.35 mbps T-Mobile Internet
    Browser
    Firefox and Edge
    Antivirus
    MS - Defender
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1
I'll see if I can upgrade through the MS store thingy.
That should work (at MS prices though). A while back I did upgrade one of my W10 Home laptops to W10 Pro, but the only reason I did that was to be able to use Hyper-V.

I agree with BunnyJ, there aren't many good reasons to justify the expense of upgrading Home to Pro. I'm running W11 Pro on my System Two in 'My Computers' below, and W11 Home on my System One. There's little to choose between them, I'm even running VMs in W11 Home using Virtualbox.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
I did it a few weeks ago when my Dell XPS 15 9570 notebook ships with Windows 10 Home and I was on Windows 11 Home at the time. Ebay had a listing saying if I went directly to the site, it was 50% off at $US4.99 so what happened was I got the key for a clean install of Windows 10 Pro which did not work for the upgrade so I wrote them email and got back a new key that upgrades Home to Pro which did show a error and Windows reported that the upgrade failed but they told me to reboot which had me with Windows 11 Pro afterwards. The vendor no longer has the item for sale. As long as it's under $10, the worse case is you may need to file a dispute with the credit card company and they will usually issue a permanent credit should something go wrong.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10/11, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-8750H 8th Gen Processor 2.2Ghz up to 4.1Ghz
    Motherboard
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Memory
    32GB using 2x16GB modules
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD 630 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC3266-CG
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" 4K Touch UltraHD 3840x2160 made by Sharp
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba KXG60ZNV1T02 NVMe 1024GB/1TB SSD
    PSU
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Case
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Stock
    Mouse
    SwitftPoint ProPoint
    Internet Speed
    Comcast/XFinity 1.44Gbps/42.5Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE (Chromium based) & Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender that came with Windows
I stuck with MS to upgrade, sometimes better the devil you know !
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Me
    CPU
    i9 10850
    Motherboard
    MS-7C75
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDEA Geoforce 3070
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 55inch TV
    Screen Resolution
    3040 X 2160
    Hard Drives
    6TB over 4 drives
    Case
    generic
    Cooling
    water cooled
    Keyboard
    generic
    Mouse
    generic
    Internet Speed
    500mb
    Browser
    various
    Antivirus
    ATM Bitdefender
All you need to upgrade Home to Pro is a product key for Pro, nothing else. You can even do it with a Windows 7 Pro product key.

You can upgrade Windows 10 home to Pro then upgrade to Windows 11 Pro. Or you can upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 11 Home then upgrade that to Pro.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
All you need to upgrade Home to Pro is a product key for Pro, nothing else. You can even do it with a Windows 7 Pro product key.

You can upgrade Windows 10 home to Pro then upgrade to Windows 11 Pro. Or you can upgrade Windows 10 Home to Windows 11 Home then upgrade that to Pro.
It depends as there are some keys which only works for Clean installs and some that work to upgrade Home to Pro.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10/11, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-8750H 8th Gen Processor 2.2Ghz up to 4.1Ghz
    Motherboard
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Memory
    32GB using 2x16GB modules
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD 630 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC3266-CG
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" 4K Touch UltraHD 3840x2160 made by Sharp
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba KXG60ZNV1T02 NVMe 1024GB/1TB SSD
    PSU
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Case
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Stock
    Mouse
    SwitftPoint ProPoint
    Internet Speed
    Comcast/XFinity 1.44Gbps/42.5Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE (Chromium based) & Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender that came with Windows
It depends as there are some keys which only works for Clean installs and some that work to upgrade Home to Pro.
While that was true with Windows 7/8, it is no longer true with Windows 10/11. Disconnect the computer from all sources of internet. Change the product key to VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T and it will upgrade to Pro. After the upgrade is done and the computer has rebooted, reconnect to the internet and change the product key to your OEM "clean install only" product key for Pro and it will activate and you will establish a digital license for Pro for that computer.

Once the digital license for Pro is established for that computer, any future upgrade from Home to Pro on the same computer can be accomplished by just changing the product to the generic shown above with the internet connected and it will upgrade to Pro and activate.

@Bree was actually the member who posted this procedure.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
While that was true with Windows 7/8, it is no longer true with Windows 10/11. Disconnect the computer from all sources of internet. Change the product key to VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T and it will upgrade to Pro. After the upgrade is done and the computer has rebooted, reconnect to the internet and change the product key to your OEM "clean install only" product key for Pro and it will activate and you will establish a digital license for Pro for that computer.

Once the digital license for Pro is established for that computer, any future upgrade from Home to Pro on the same computer can be accomplished by just changing the product to the generic shown above with the internet connected and it will upgrade to Pro and activate.

@Bree was actually the member who posted this procedure.
Entering the generic key to upgrade only works if the pc has a previous digital licence established. This change was introduced a couple of years back.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
It depends as there are some keys which only works for Clean installs and some that work to upgrade Home to Pro.
That is absolutely not true. Each and every Windows product key works for both clean install and edition upgrade.

Of course, this only applies to all valid, legal Windows product keys. Those who knowingly buy illegal, pirated keys might naturally experience all kind of strange issues. I mean, anyone buying a Windows product key from eBay or any other obscure seller with 5 or 10 bucks of course know, that they are buying illegal key, and can only blame themselves for possible issues.

Kari
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 PRO x64 Dev
    Manufacturer/Model
    Hyper-V Virtual Machine (host in System 2 specs)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-8550U
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Microsoft Hyper-V Video
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop display (17.1") & Samsung U28E590 (27.7")
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 PRO x64 Dev Channel
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP HP ProBook 470 G5
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-8550U
    Motherboard
    HP 837F KBC Version 02.3D.00
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 & NVIDIA GeForce 930MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop display (17.1") & Samsung U28E590 (27.7")
    Hard Drives
    128 GB SSD & 1 TB HDD
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech MSX mouse
    Keyboard
    Wireless Logitech MK710 keyboard
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up
    Browser
    Edge Chromium Dev Channel
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    2 * 3 TB USB HDD
    6 TB WD Mirror NAS
Entering the generic key to upgrade only works if the pc has a previous digital licence established. This change was introduced a couple of years back.
Absolutely not true. Disconnecting from the internet defeats that. Thus the first step in the procedure I posted: disconnect the computer from all sources of internet.

Seems like there is a lot of misinformation floating around about upgrading Home to Pro.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
Entering the generic key to upgrade only works if the pc has a previous digital licence established. This change was introduced a couple of years back.
It only performs this check if you are connected to the internet. Disconnect before changing the key and it will upgrade. Of course, if the PC does not have a previously established digital licence for Pro it will not activate when you reconnect.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
It only performs this check if you are connected to the internet. Disconnect before changing the key and it will upgrade. Of course, if the PC does not have a previously established digital licence for Pro it will not activate when you reconnect.
And then that installation of Pro will activate with any valid Pro product key, OEM or not, just not with the generic product until after some other Pro product key is used.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
And then that installation of Pro will activate with any valid Pro product key, OEM or not, just not with the generic product until after some other Pro product key is used.
Yes, it should. But if the Pro key you try turns out not to be a valid one (eg. some dodgy key you bought on eBay) then downgrading back to Home is more complicated. So best make sure you know the provenance of your Pro key before you start :wink:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
Yes, it should. But if the Pro key you try turns out not to be a valid one (eg. some dodgy key you bought on eBay) then downgrading back to Home is more complicated. So best make sure you know the provenance of your Pro key before you start :wink:
Actually, downgrading back to Home is as easy as restoring the back up image you created before you attempted the upgrade. Of course you created a backup, right? :LOL:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
Yes, but why?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Microsoft Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    MSI MS-7D98
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-13490F
    Motherboard
    MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI
    Memory
    2 x 16 Patriot Memory (PDP Systems) PSD516G560081
    Graphics Card(s)
    GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE OC 12G (GV-N4070WF3OC-12GD)
    Sound Card
    Bluetooth Аудио
    Monitor(s) Displays
    INNOCN 15K1F
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    WD_BLACK SN770 250GB
    KINGSTON SNV2S1000G (ELFK0S.6)
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W
    Case
    CG560 - DeepCool
    Cooling
    ID-COOLING SE-224-XTS / 2 x 140Mm Fan - rear and top; 3 x 120Mm - front
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 RGB TKL
    Mouse
    Corsair KATAR PRO XT
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Other Info
    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/66553205
Hi again guys, just to update you on how things went.

My first thought was, do I really need Pro? On balance probably not. But I do like the option to tinker about with things, whether it's using a VM, messing about in group policy settings or having a bit of freedom to do whatever.

I agreed with what @tonez4466 says above and stuck with Microsoft for the upgrade. It's not the cheapest way to go about it but it's fail safe, if things go wrong at least you get the support....

And things did go wrong.

So I went to the MS store, purchased a Win10 Pro license, verified my ID three times and got my payment confirmation email. Microsoft thanked me for my purchase and gave me my order number. Nothing else, just an order number.

I kinda expected one of them long product keys to arrive shortly afterwards (via email) so I waited patiently for a good 60 or 70 seconds. Nothing arrived so I tried to contact Microsoft support.

I'm unsure if Microsoft deliberately make it difficult to contact them as it took lots of Googling but I eventually got a UK number through the help pages, called it and was directed back through to the help page where I started from. I tried again and eventually got put through to a really helpful person. They suggested that I just needed to go back into the store and install my product. Yeah I felt a bit stupid but ok, whatever, I was finally moving forward. At least I thought so...

So I go back in to the store and click the install button, things are going well! Then an error code pops up saying 'we are unable to install your product at this time due to error 0xbla bla bla'.

OK I think, let's reboot and see what happens. So I reboot, the system updates itself (cool!) and I log in and try to activate my new license. I then get a message telling me that my Windows 10 Enterprise license is invalid. I bought Pro and somehow have Enterprise.

By now I'm baffled. I'm aware of what an Enterprise license is but it's not what I bought, so I'm back to Googling the UK number for Microsoft support. I call it, get redirected back to the Microsoft help pages, call it again and get put through to another person.

They advised me that I must have incorrectly installed Enterprise from a drop down list. I pointed out that it's impossible, I bought Pro from the store. They eventually agreed but pointed out that Win11 isn't fully supported yet and I would have to go back to Win10 home to upgrade to Pro.

Well OK I thought, I am where I am and asked for the key anyway, they gave it to me and Win11Pro was activated immediately. I'm not sure who was more suprised, me or the Microsoft rep.

So in summary it wasn't the best experience but I got there. Yeah what should have been a five minute process took four hours and the gain probably wasn't worth the pain. But I have Pro and I am happy..!

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions above, all is appreciated :)

Cheers

Bill
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Omen
    CPU
    I7-10750H
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX2070
...I bought Pro and somehow have Enterprise....
That doesn't happen very often, but it has been reported several times by others when upgrading W10 Home via the Store. No one has yet fathomed out how it can happen. But when it does it can be fixed just by changing the installed key to the generic W10 Pro key.

 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.

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