Installation and Upgrade Upgrade Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro

kiza · Jan 18, 2023

Hi everybody. Just got my new laptop with Windows 11 Home. I want to use option two to upgrade to Pro version, but I am a bit lost with a product key. If I purchase Microsoft Windows 11 Professional CD Key - Instant Delivery at CJS CD Keys , would it work as a product key? It is being sold as a CD key and do not want to, god forbid, have to reinstall Windows. Thanks!

Fabler2 · Jan 18, 2023

kiza said:
Hi everybody. Just got my new laptop with Windows 11 Home. I want to use option two to upgrade to Pro version, but I am a bit lost with a product key. If I purchase Microsoft Windows 11 Professional CD Key - Instant Delivery at CJS CD Keys , would it work as a product key? It is being sold as a CD key and do not want to, god forbid, have to reinstall Windows. Thanks!

Before you try these cheap keys you know already you're taking a gamble so the first thing you do is to create an image of your drive to restore to if it goes belly up.

SIW2 · Jan 18, 2023

Not familiar with that site. Mikes unboxing suggests something. looks similar to what you posted . Who knows.

https://www.youtube.com/@mikesunboxing

VinceB · May 12, 2025

Hi:

I received (from DELL) an upgrade key for win11 home to win11 pro on my new desktop PC. So, I believe Option 2 in Brink's tutorial is what I need to use/follow.

How much time should I allow for completing the home-to-pro upgrade? 30 mins, 2.5 hrs, or more?

Must I view the process in order to answer queries?

After doing the upgrade, is it possible to downgrade to win11 home?

TNX.

Brink · May 12, 2025

VinceB said:
Hi:

I received (from DELL) an upgrade key for win11 home to win11 pro on my new desktop PC. So, I believe Option 2 in Brink's tutorial is what I need to use/follow.

How much time should I allow for completing the home-to-pro upgrade? 30 mins, 2.5 hrs, or more?

Must I view the process in order to answer queries?

After doing the upgrade, is it possible to downgrade to win11 home?

TNX.

Hello Vince, and welcome to the forum.

Correct. Option Two is what you'd want to use.

It won't take very long at all to upgrade since it's just enabling the Pro features. 5 minutes at most.

VinceB · May 12, 2025

Hi Brink:
TNX for the very quick reply.
It is too close to dinner time here, so I shall make the upgrade probably tomorrow.
Stay well,
VinceB.

Brink · May 12, 2025

VinceB said:
Hi Brink:
TNX for the very quick reply.
It is too close to dinner time here, so I shall make the upgrade probably tomorrow.
Stay well,
VinceB.

Please feel free to ask anything else you need when ready. :shawn:

VinceB · Jun 1, 2025

Brink said:
Please feel free to ask anything else you need when ready.

I finally, just a few moments ago, used your Option #2 with great success ! Took less than 4 minutes to upgrade to Win11 Pro, vers 24H2, OS Build 26100.4061 now.

No need to disconnect from Internet, as I had read in post dated 2023, elsewhere.

Must now update My PC Specs.

Many TNX Brink.

Brink · Jun 1, 2025

VinceB said:
I finally, just a few moments ago, used your Option #2 with great success ! Took less than 4 minutes to upgrade to Win11 Pro, vers 24H2, OS Build 26100.4061 now.

No need to disconnect from Internet, as I had read in post dated 2023, elsewhere.

Must now update My PC Specs.

Many TNX Brink.

Great news. :shawn:

RC7788 · Aug 13, 2025

Just had my m.2 drive get corrpted somehow and had to do a clean install on my HP laptop. It loaded as Home version, which is what I did have on it. Decided to try for Pro version by changing the key using the generic key mentioned above to start with, but got a message "The product key you entered didn't work. Check the product key again, or enter a different one. (0xc004f050)" Tried multiple times and sure I entered the key correctly. The install was with the latest version, 24H2 downloaded from the Microsoft download site. I'm thinking this has to do with either using the latest Win 11 version, or more likely that this an HP brand laptop with something built in that won't allow me to use that generic key.

antspants · Aug 13, 2025

RC7788 said:
Just had my m.2 drive get corrpted somehow and had to do a clean install on my HP laptop. It loaded as Home version, which is what I did have on it. Decided to try for Pro version by changing the key using the generic key mentioned above to start with, but got a message "The product key you entered didn't work. Check the product key again, or enter a different one. (0xc004f050)" Tried multiple times and sure I entered the key correctly. The install was with the latest version, 24H2 downloaded from the Microsoft download site. I'm thinking this has to do with either using the latest Win 11 version, or more likely that this an HP brand laptop with something built in that won't allow me to use that generic key.

IF your key & Windows version is embedded into the laptop

To fIx this if you’re going to do a clean install, you’ll need to modify the Windows 11 ISO so that it can bypass the Laptops embedded info.

The reason being is that as well as the Windows key, the Windows version will most likely be embedded also and the only install option you will get during the install process will be for Windows Home

So you’ll need to modify the ISO a fraction.

To bypass the BIOS version restrictions, you can edit a multi edition Windows.iso

Open notepad and enter the following:

Code:

[Channel]
Retail

Save the file as ei.cfg
Place the file in the ISO sources folder.
- ~~I am not sure if allows to edit the ISO, there are other ways~~

SIW2 said:
It does see here

How to create ISO from Windows 11 22H2.22621.963 bootable USB Stick?

I've just started using Ventoy and would like to free up some of these Windows bootable USB pen drives I have and move their iso's over to a Ventoy USB pen drive. Since I no longer have the original ISO files for some of these releases. I'd like to reverse the process and turn the bootable USB...

www.elevenforum.com

Download Anyburn Free
- AnyBurn free instructions
I believe you could also use 7-Zip
During the Windows installation you should now be asked what version of Windows you would like to install.

There are further modifications you can make to the ISO, like pre entering your Windows key into the ei.cfg file. See here —>

How to confirm my license key is legit?

Hello. I was previously running Windows 10 Home Edition. I can't remember where I got my license key from, but I think it was originally a Windows 7 key that I bought directly from Microsoft. A few years ago, I bought a grey market key for Windows 11 Pro Edition from eBay in order to upgrade...

www.elevenforum.com

RC7788 · Aug 13, 2025

antspants: I appreciate your reply, that certainly seems to be my problem. I also learned some from the topic you included. I will try the solution given. I do have one question about the file going into the sources folder. I have a thumb drive with the Win 11 install loaded from an .iso using Rufus, so could I just add the file directly to the sources folder in the thumb drive instead of to the iso?

antspants · Aug 13, 2025

RC7788 said:
antspants: I appreciate your reply, that certainly seems to be my problem. I also learned some from the topic you included. I will try the solution given. I do have one question about the file going into the sources folder. I have a thumb drive with the Win 11 install loaded from an .iso using Rufus, so could I just add the file directly to the sources folder in the thumb drive instead of to the iso?

I would assume so, if it is accessible.

RC7788 · Aug 13, 2025

antspants said:
I would assume so, if it is accessible.

Thanks again.

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 13, 2025

I bought a laptop that came with Windows Home, I purchased a Stack Social Win 11 Pro key and did the upgrade. It was a seamless process, and went quite quickly. You just go into Activation and change the product key. Enter the new key and away you go.

RC7788 · Aug 13, 2025

antspants: I added the ei.cfg file as instructed and tried the install again. After picking the partition to install to, the next screen showed that the Home version was going to be installed. I stopped the install hoping the disk wasn't wiped yet, but of course it was. So I had to go through the install again, but this time I noticed a highlighted line of text on the third window (Select setup option) saying "Previous Version of Setup". I clicked on it and got the old style window and two windows later "Select the operating system you want to install" window was there. Then all went well with the install. Your modification worked, but for me, I had to use the "Previous Version of Setup". Thank you again.

RC7788 · Aug 13, 2025

gunrunnerjohn said:
I bought a laptop that came with Windows Home, I purchased a Stack Social Win 11 Pro key and did the upgrade. It was a seamless process, and went quite quickly. You just go into Activation and change the product key. Enter the new key and away you go.

I bought the same key you did, then went to Activation and entered the key just like you did, but I got the message "The product key you entered didn't work." I had to use antspants suggestion to get it to work. I guess it was just my unique computer problem.

antspants · Aug 13, 2025

RC7788 said:
antspants: I added the ei.cfg file as instructed and tried the install again. After picking the partition to install to, the next screen showed that the Home version was going to be installed. I stopped the install hoping the disk wasn't wiped yet, but of course it was. So I had to go through the install again, but this time I noticed a highlighted line of text on the third window (Select setup option) saying "Previous Version of Setup". I clicked on it and got the old style window and two windows later "Select the operating system you want to install" window was there. Then all went well with the install. Your modification worked, but for me, I had to use the "Previous Version of Setup". Thank you again.

I am glad it worked out in the end.

I am wondering if the ISO is the right kind.

When you download an ISO from Microsoft: Option Two

Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

This tutorial will show you how to download an official Windows Server or Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO file from Microsoft. Microsoft provides ISO files for Windows Server and Windows 11 to download. You can use these ISO files to clean install or in-place upgrade Windows 11. The Flight Hub...

www.elevenforum.com

The choice is English International, it's a multi version.:

When you download using Media Creation Tool: Option One

Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft

This tutorial will show you how to download an official Windows Server or Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO file from Microsoft. Microsoft provides ISO files for Windows Server and Windows 11 to download. You can use these ISO files to clean install or in-place upgrade Windows 11. The Flight Hub...

www.elevenforum.com

You need to ensure that the settings are correct before downloading. As it mentions in Brink's tutorial - the option to "Use the recommended options for this PC" should be unchecked when you get to it.

RC7788 · Aug 14, 2025

antspants: My desktop is AMD, which I built, and the laptop is an HP Intel so I do know to uncheck "Use the recommended options for this PC" when I want to download an install file since I might need it for 2 different system types. The first time I used "Create Windows 11 Installation Media" to download straight to a thumb drive, but it didn't find the m.2 nvme drive in the Intel laptop. Thought I might have forgotten to uncheck the box so I downlloaded the multi-edition iso instead. Still wouldn't find the m.2 drive on the laptop, even though it did find the m.2 drives when I tested it on my AMD desktop. Turns out I had to get some Intel storage drivers and add them to the sources folder in install thumb drive for it to work on the laptop. So I am pretty sure the problem wasn't with the install media, but with something embeded in the HP motherboard. Just grateful your solution worked.

Installation and Upgrade Upgrade Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro

Upgrade Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro from Microsoft Store

Upgrade Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro by Changing Product Key

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Active member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Active member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Active member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Like a rolling drone.

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Like a rolling drone.

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Like a rolling drone.

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Similar Windows 11 Tutorials

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

My Computers

My Computers

My Computers

My Computers

My Computers

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer