Windows licence recovery after reinstall


NavyLCDR said:
An OEM product key cannot be used to upgrade Windows 10/11 Home to Pro directly by simply changing the product key. Which makes perfect sense, why would an OEM or System Builder ever need to upgrade from Home to Pro? However, the workaround is simple. Disconnect the computer from the internet, change the product key to the generic for Pro. Windows will upgrade to Pro but not activate. After the upgrade is done, then you can change the product key to the OEM Pro product key and it will activate.
Click to expand...
I upgraded a laptop that came with Windows 11 Home:
ShowKeyPlus showed the the Windows 11 Pro key I bought as "Windows 10 RTM Professional OEM:DM". I had to do the steps you said with one difference. I never disconnected from the Internet. Can you explain that?

I upgraded a laptop that came with Windows 10 Home:
ShowKeyPlus showed the the Windows 10 Pro key I bought as "Windows 10 RTM Professional Retail". Maybe that was why I was able to do an Anytime Upgrade and avoid having to do any workaround.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS TUF Gaming A15 (2022)
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon 680M GPU (486MB RAM)
    Memory
    Micron DDR5-4800 (2400MHz) 16GB (2 x 8GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA RTX 3060 Laptop (6GB RAM)
    Sound Card
    n/a
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6-inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 300Hz
    Hard Drives
    2 x Samsung 980 (1TB M.2 NVME SSD)
    PSU
    n/a
    Mouse
    Wireless Mouse M510
    Internet Speed
    1200Mbps/250Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    ASUS PRIME X370-PRO
    Memory
    G.SKILL Flare X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING (RTX 3060-Ti, 8GB RAM)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S23A300B (23-in LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1080p 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    2TB XPG SX8200 Pro (M2. PCIe SSD) || 2TB Intel 660P (M2. PCIe SSD) ||
    PSU
    Corsair RM750x (750 watts)
    Case
    Cooler Master MasterCase 5
    Cooling
    Corsair H60 AIO water cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech K350 (wireless)
    Keyboard
    Logitech M510 (wireless)
    Internet Speed
    1200 Mbps down / 200 Mbps up
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes (Premium)
    Other Info
    ASUS Blu-ray Burner BW-16D1HT (SATA) || Western Digital Elements 12TB USB 3.0 external hard drive used with Acronis True Image backup software || HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 Printer/Scanner
I'm confused about this whole thing -- You can install W11 clean without any sort of license if you install via dism /Apply image from a Windows Iso.

If it's a brand new install and you havent had W10 / W8 /W7 before it won't be activated but after installing and finishing the setup just go to change product key. Enter the key you got.

W8 / W8.1 / W7 and W10 still updates to W11 if your hardware is "compatible" -- at least it was still working last week.

If you have any of these just upgrade. After that if you want to install clean just re-install - activation should be fine.

My own view on some of these really cheap Windows licenses is that you'd be better off sourcing a legit version of W7/W8/W8.1 or even W10 - and upgrade from those -- cheaper and will be legit. Some of these "retail cheap keys" are created in China and elsewhere either using keys obtained via MSDN type of subscriptions or by some ingenious "keygen" creating software - and often Ms blocks these keys after a whiled. Same with latest versions of Office -- although some are lucky with those and they still update OK.

Anybody buying really cheap software whether its photoshop, Windows, Office etc -- motto should always be "Caveat Emptor". For some even if it works for 12 months they might consider it worth it. It's your risk though.

Remember though if you upgrade from an earlier version of Windows you can only use the same edition e.g W8.1 Home -> W11 Home.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
NavyLCDR said:
An OEM product key cannot be used to upgrade Windows 10/11 Home to Pro directly by simply changing the product key. Which makes perfect sense, why would an OEM or System Builder ever need to upgrade from Home to Pro? However, the workaround is simple. Disconnect the computer from the internet, change the product key to the generic for Pro. Windows will upgrade to Pro but not activate. After the upgrade is done, then you can change the product key to the OEM Pro product key and it will activate.
Click to expand...
Hmmm.. I can't recall the tests I did.. but anyhow.. an OEM:COA (System Builder as e.g.._) has to have a sticker...yeah?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
Superfly said:
Hmmm.. I can't recall the tests I did.. but anyhow.. an OEM:COA (System Builder as e.g.._) has to have a sticker...yeah?
Click to expand...
Not if you purchase an OEM key online that is delivered in email. Also, starting with Windows 8, new computers with factory installed Windows had a full OEM product key stored in BIOS and only had Windows logo stickers on them, with no printed product keys.
 

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!
So I tested this, but I was stupid because I got ten and eleven forums mixed up. So here is the result for Windows 10, latest version. Until I get back to checking with Windows 11, I would assume that it would be the same for Windows 11. First, I am starting with a fully up-to-date Windows 10 Home:

1.jpg

Next, while connected to the internet, I tried changing the product key to the generic for Windows 10 Pro:

2.jpg

Then I tried a Windows 10 Pro OEM product key, still while connected to the internet:

3.jpg

Disconnected from the internet and tried the same product key above, with the same results. Then, I changed the product key to the generic for Windows 10 Pro, not connected to the internet and it upgraded, but did not activate:

4.jpg

Then I connected to the internet and checked, still not activated:

5.jpg

Finally, while connected to the internet I changed the product key to the Windows 10 Pro OEM product key, and it activated:

6.jpg

This is the way Windows 10 has always worked, and the way that Windows 11 has worked for me in the past, and I don't see any indication anywhere that Windows 11 has changed, but I have not verified it on Windows 11 recently.
 

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!
I just checked the above with Windows 11 and got exactly the same results, except for the last attempt to activate with the OEM product key, I got this, which is expected:
11-6.jpg

I forgot to clear the product key off the previous VM before I deleted it. So I had to resort to using an old Windows 7 Pro OEM key to get activated:

11-7.jpg 11-8.jpg 11-9.jpg

Note that because it was a Windows 7 Product Key, when Windows 11 activated it automatically switched to the generic product key, but stayed on the OEM channel. To move to the retail channel, just change the generic OEM key with the generic key for Windows 10/11 Retail.
 

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!
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