Window 10 upgrade from Home to Pro during installation?

Topic

New Reply

I have a laptop that came with Windows 10 Home pre installed.  I also have a upgrade license “key” for Window 10 Pro.

Is it possible to do a clean install of Windows Home from say USB thumb drive and upgrade to Windows 10 Pro during a clean installation (at the same time)

Thanks, Mike

 

Reply | Quote

Replies

Why reinstall? Just change the key within Windows and it will upgrade. Open Settings. Go to System | Activation. Click on Change Product Key. Follow the prompts. Note: it may take up to 24 hours for your activation status to change.

--Joe

1 user thanked author for this post.

Mike

Reply | Quote

Thanks Joe.  Valid point and that I am familiar with.  In this case, I need to do a new (fresh, clean) install of Windows 10.  My reasoning was that I would immediately have the benefits of “Pro” during the post installation configuration.

Just wondering.

Mike

Reply | Quote

See if this article helps – How To Select Pro Edition While Installing Windows 10 (intowindows.com)

--Joe

1 user thanked author for this post.

Mike

Reply | Quote

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/update-procedure-of-the-past-question/

or if you really must have pro fully “out of box”this might work- I’ve never needed it

Install (or reimage) the machine, and when you get to the setup wizard after the reboot at the end of setup, enter audit mode and shut the PC down so the image is in a sysprep prepared state:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/boot-windows-to-audit-mode-or-oobe?view=windows-11

Then make a note of the bitlocker recovery key (should you need it) and create and then boot the recovery media and (assuming the Windows install is on drive c:) you should be able to up the version by issuing the following from the command prompt of the installation media

dism /image:c: /Get-TargetEditions – Displays a list of Windows editions that an image can be upgraded to.
dism /image:c: /Get-CurrentEdition – Displays the edition of the current image.
dism /image:c: /Set-Edition – Upgrades an image to a higher edition.

Basically at the link below shows the process; the production images have to be mounted to a folder so the changes can be made and the changes committed to the image, whereas yours will be “live”, otherwise little difference, so Dism /Image:C: /<span class=”hljs-built_in”>Set</span>-Edition:Professional should sort it, then when you boot Windows click OK on the System preparation tool in audit mode and it should come out as Pro at the end of the setup process..

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/change-the-windows-image-to-a-higher-edition-using-dism?view=windows-11

1 user thanked author for this post.

Mike

Reply | Quote

@joep517  That link and idea worked great.  The .cfg file can just be made using Notepad.  What was real strange was that after selecting a Windows Pro installation,  going through the setup and then after completion, the Pro version was already activated with some weird key.   I just re-entered the correct key.

@oldguy  Totally new information to me.  I’ll read up.  Thanks.

Thanks to both of you.

Reply | Quote