Solved Upgrade

Just bought a new gaming desktop and it has win 11 home. Question? i have win 11 pro can i still use my win 7 pro key to upgrade. Thank you

Yes, a Win 7 Pro or Ultimate key can be used to upgrade to Win 11 Pro. I'm assuming that you are using a previously unused key.

Any Windows 7 Professional can be used, not sure for Ultimate, probably yes. Also any Windows 8 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 10 Pro key. But to activate online the key must not have reached its maximum allowed activations. If it has but you don't use it anymore in any other computer, you may be able to activate by phone calling Microsoft. If this option is not available, you can force it if you type the following in a Command Prompt (or Windows Terminal or PowerShell) as Administrator:
slui.exe 4

spapakons said:

Any Windows 7 Professional can be used, not sure for Ultimate, probably yes. Also any Windows 8 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 10 Pro key. But to activate online the key must not have reached its maximum allowed activations. If it has but you don't use it anymore in any other computer, you may be able to activate by phone calling Microsoft. If this option is not available, you can force it if you type the following in a Command Prompt (or Windows Terminal or PowerShell) as Administrator:
slui.exe 4

Click to expand...

7 Ultimate key works as well for 10/11 Pro.

It is irrelevant about how many previous activations key has had - that was for older OSs. The key now is not used in same way now. W10/W11 only checks the key is valid to grant a digital licence.

Indeed W10/W11 hardly even care about whether key is oem or retail anymore.

About the only keys that sometimes get rejected are bios embedded keys if you try to use them on a different pc, but even then sometimes they get accepted (hit or miss).

You get a digital license with any valid key, even with the generic Windows 10/11 Pro key, if your computer has at least once activated Windows 10/11 Pro and is registered on Microsoft servers. If you haven't activated Windows 10/11 Pro before at that computer, then you must use a valid key that has not reached the maximum allowed activations and of course is not blacklisted for some reason.

spapakons said:

You get a digital license with any valid key, even with the generic Windows 10/11 Pro key, if your computer has at least once activated Windows 10/11 Pro and is registered on Microsoft servers. If you haven't activated Windows 10/11 Pro before at that computer, then you must use a valid key that has not reached the maximum allowed activations and of course is not blacklisted for some reason.

Click to expand...

Again, as I said, it does not check maximum activations - I tested it a few years ago in vms with Windows 8.1 creating multiple versions, then eventually, I could not use key it as reached the soft limit. I then used key in Windows 10 without resetting activation count using telephone activation, and it just worked.

I suppose it is possible MS have tightened things up but I seriously doubt it.

You can even use older upgrade keys used to upgrade older versions from Home to Pro. You could not use these keys to clean install Pro without a valid Home key (called Core on W8), but they work to activate clean install of W10 Pro.

The truth is activation of W10/11 is very lax with very little restrictions. MS just do not care really about domestic users - the cost of policing all the EULA conditions is probably higher than revenue loss from the tiny number who violate it. Hell, you can even run it unactivated permanently with minimal loss in functionality (personalisation). It does not go into Reduced Function mode or nag you even. It does not even show a watermark now like it used to.

MS only really actively pursue volume licence transgressions as that can represent a serious loss in revenue,

Of course, I deleted all multiple 8.1 vms created as that would be in violation of EULA.

Non-activated doesn't allow you to personalize. An exception is at first installation, if you are not connected to the internet, you can personalize it exactly as you like. Once connected to the internet, it locks and won't let you personalize anymore. As for the "reduced function mode", I cannot tell as I haven't tried it. Back in Windows 7 and earlier the computer would become slower and slower until you couldn't bare it and force to activate to return at full speed. Not sure if this is applicable in Windows 10 or 11, haven't tested it. At least in 10/11 once you select wallpaper is not removed if it is not activated, as was the case in earlier Windows versions. About that you can use any valid Windows key to activate, I wouldn't bet on that unless the computer has a digital license on Microsoft servers. This is only true if this computer has been activated at least once before. If it hasn't, then you need a valid key that can be activated again or is unused to activate. I wouldn't risk it anyway to use a key that cannot activate anymore.