Windows 11 eduction / pro/ activation issue


starsi360

starsi360

Member
Local time
12:13 AM
Posts
2
OS
Windows 11
Hi all
I bought a lenovo desktop PC from a second hand retailer. When I do a clean install of Windows 11, it automatically installs Windows 11 Pro Education. I want it to be just Pro, and not education edition.

Now I know I can use the ei.cfg file to force it to allow me to choose plain old pro (non-education edition). But I am setting this up for someones office and if they decide to reinstall windows from USB in future (without the ei.cfg) then I assume it will revert to Pro Education due to an embedded/bios PID for Pro Education

My question is, is there any way to permanantly change this so that when installing windows from USB it won't go to Education and instead install just Pro? Is there a way to change or override the embedded key?

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo
starsi360 said:
if they decide to reinstall windows from USB in future (without the ei.cfg) then I assume it will revert to Pro Education due to an embedded/bios PID for Pro Education
Click to expand...
Correct

starsi360 said:
question is, is there any way to permanantly change this so that when installing windows from USB it won't go to Education and instead install just Pro? Is there a way to change or override the embedded key?
Click to expand...

Not that I have ever heard of. The embedded key is stored in a secure area of the UEFI/BIOS and cannot be changed or removed by standard users. Manufacturers write it during production.

You’d need to use some tricky BIOS/UEFI editing app I would imagine. But you could end up bricking the laptop.

If you’re giving them the installation media, then all should be good as long as you have edited the ISO by adding the ei.cfg file.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build 22631.5472
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Sin-built
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (4th Gen?)
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VI Formula
    Memory
    32.0 GB of I forget and the box is in storage.
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super OC 6GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    5 x LG 25MS500-B - 1 x 24MK430H-B - 1 x Wacom Pro 22" Tablet
    Screen Resolution
    All over the place
    Hard Drives
    Too many to list.
    OS on Samsung 1TB 870 QVO SATA
    PSU
    Silverstone 1500
    Case
    NZXT Phantom 820 Full-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 Elite Class Dual Tower CPU Cooler / 6 x EziDIY 120mm / 2 x Corsair 140mm somethings / 1 x 140mm Thermaltake something / 2 x 200mm Corsair.
    Keyboard
    Corsair K95 / Logitech diNovo Edge Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech: G402 / G502 / Mx Masters / MX Air Cordless
    Internet Speed
    1000/400Mbps
    Browser
    All sorts
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Premium
    Other Info
    I’m on a horse.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build: 22631.4249
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    LENOVO Yoga 7i EVO OLED 14" Touchscreen i5 12 Core 16GB/512GB
    CPU
    Intel Core 12th Gen i5-1240P Processor (1.7 - 4.4GHz)
    Memory
    16GB LPDDR5 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics Processor
    Sound Card
    Optimized with Dolby Atmos®
    Screen Resolution
    QHD 2880 x 1800 OLED
    Hard Drives
    M.2 512GB
    Antivirus
    Defender / Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    …still on a horse.
antspants said:
Correct



Not that I have ever heard of. The embedded key is stored in a secure area of the UEFI/BIOS and cannot be changed or removed by standard users. Manufacturers write it during production.

You’d need to use some tricky BIOS/UEFI editing app I would imagine. But you could end up bricking the laptop.

If you’re giving them the installation media, then all should be good as long as you have edited the ISO by adding the ei.cfg file.
Click to expand...

Thanks, to be honest I am not happy with someone else using it and it having the possibility of reverting to education as it feels a bit sketchy - I am going to return it to where it came from and find an alternative machine. Thanks for confirming my suspicions that it cannot be changed!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo
starsi360 said:
Thanks, to be honest I am not happy with someone else using it and it having the possibility of reverting to education as it feels a bit sketchy - I am going to return it to where it came from and find an alternative machine. Thanks for confirming my suspicions that it cannot be changed!
Click to expand...

You can stipulate a Windows version in the file.


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 www.elevenforum.com
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build 22631.5472
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Sin-built
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (4th Gen?)
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VI Formula
    Memory
    32.0 GB of I forget and the box is in storage.
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super OC 6GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    5 x LG 25MS500-B - 1 x 24MK430H-B - 1 x Wacom Pro 22" Tablet
    Screen Resolution
    All over the place
    Hard Drives
    Too many to list.
    OS on Samsung 1TB 870 QVO SATA
    PSU
    Silverstone 1500
    Case
    NZXT Phantom 820 Full-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 Elite Class Dual Tower CPU Cooler / 6 x EziDIY 120mm / 2 x Corsair 140mm somethings / 1 x 140mm Thermaltake something / 2 x 200mm Corsair.
    Keyboard
    Corsair K95 / Logitech diNovo Edge Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech: G402 / G502 / Mx Masters / MX Air Cordless
    Internet Speed
    1000/400Mbps
    Browser
    All sorts
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Premium
    Other Info
    I’m on a horse.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build: 22631.4249
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    LENOVO Yoga 7i EVO OLED 14" Touchscreen i5 12 Core 16GB/512GB
    CPU
    Intel Core 12th Gen i5-1240P Processor (1.7 - 4.4GHz)
    Memory
    16GB LPDDR5 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics Processor
    Sound Card
    Optimized with Dolby Atmos®
    Screen Resolution
    QHD 2880 x 1800 OLED
    Hard Drives
    M.2 512GB
    Antivirus
    Defender / Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    …still on a horse.
I’ll paste it here:

If you want to bypass a laptops embedded version of Windows Home/Education during the install process and install Windows Pro, please read the following.

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 AnyBurn free (<— Instructions) allows to edit the ISO, there are other ways​
Download Anyburn Free (I have the Pro versions so I am unaware of the Free versions restrictions)​


During the Windows installation you will be asked what version of Windows you would like to install.
​
OR

Code: 
[EditionID]
{Edition}

[Channel]
Retail

[VL]
0

Replace the line {Edition} with the Windows edition you want to install.
EditionID can be: Home, Professional, Enterprise, Education, and so on, depending on the available editions in your specific Windows ISO

For example:

Code: 
[EditionID]
Professional

[Channel]
Retail

[VL]
0

Channel can be changed to Retail or OEM



You can also create a pid file and pre enter your​


  • Open notepad and enter the following:
Code: 
[PID]
Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
  • Save the file as pid.txt
  • Place it into the sources folder
Replace XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX with your legitimate product key. If you don’t have a product key or you want to manually enter it later just skip creating the pid.txt file.​
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build 22631.5472
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Sin-built
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz (4th Gen?)
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus VI Formula
    Memory
    32.0 GB of I forget and the box is in storage.
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super OC 6GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    5 x LG 25MS500-B - 1 x 24MK430H-B - 1 x Wacom Pro 22" Tablet
    Screen Resolution
    All over the place
    Hard Drives
    Too many to list.
    OS on Samsung 1TB 870 QVO SATA
    PSU
    Silverstone 1500
    Case
    NZXT Phantom 820 Full-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 Elite Class Dual Tower CPU Cooler / 6 x EziDIY 120mm / 2 x Corsair 140mm somethings / 1 x 140mm Thermaltake something / 2 x 200mm Corsair.
    Keyboard
    Corsair K95 / Logitech diNovo Edge Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech: G402 / G502 / Mx Masters / MX Air Cordless
    Internet Speed
    1000/400Mbps
    Browser
    All sorts
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Premium
    Other Info
    I’m on a horse.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 Build: 22631.4249
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    LENOVO Yoga 7i EVO OLED 14" Touchscreen i5 12 Core 16GB/512GB
    CPU
    Intel Core 12th Gen i5-1240P Processor (1.7 - 4.4GHz)
    Memory
    16GB LPDDR5 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics Processor
    Sound Card
    Optimized with Dolby Atmos®
    Screen Resolution
    QHD 2880 x 1800 OLED
    Hard Drives
    M.2 512GB
    Antivirus
    Defender / Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    …still on a horse.

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
  • Like
Reactions: OAT
I’ve never heard of an OEM defaulting to the edu SKU in the firmware, and that’s the industry I’m in. More than likely, the device is still hooked to someone’s Entra/Intune, and it’s going to keep switching the SKU when it connects to the Internets.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 [rev. 4351]
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Intel NUC12WSHi7
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel Core i7-1260P, 2100 MHz
    Motherboard
    NUC12WSBi7
    Memory
    64 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    built-in Realtek HD audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3219Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB
    Keyboard
    CODE 104-Key Mechanical with Cherry MX Clears
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
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