Upgrade your unactivated Windows 10 Home to Pro and get the activation code.
Upgrade your unactivated Windows 10 Home to Pro and get the activation code.
I recently assembled a new PC and planned to move my existing Windows 10 license from my previous machine. But upon activation, I noticed the defaults set during installation were Home instead of Pro, even though my digital license is for Pro. I’ve saved a screenshot of the activation screen showing the mismatch. My goal is to switch the installation to just Windows 10 Pro without needing a product key, so I can later activate it using the valid digital license tied to my Microsoft account. I want to remove the old license before selling the machine. I've tried bootable USB again, but when choosing 'upgrade and keep files', it says the option isn't available on a system with Windows already installed. Running setup.exe from the USB while logged in also fails, showing no custom install choice. I attempted entering a generic Pro key in the product key section, but errors persist. The only alternative I've considered is performing a clean bootable installation and selecting Pro, but I’d prefer to avoid that if possible to preserve my files. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated—I just need to change the installed edition to Pro to activate it with my existing digital license.
Update registry configuration to Windows Pro, restart system, then install the key.
In settings, there should be an option to modify your key. Insert the placeholder text (it won’t work) and follow the prompts. After rebooting, you should be able to reactivate using your original key. This applies only if the current installed version is the home edition. I’m upgrading my gigabyte laptop to Pro, which defaults to the home version during installation because of hardware specifications.