I just don't understand lots of things and have couple of questions.

I have Laptop from 2010 which came with Windows 7 Home Premium (x64). It was OEM version.
I bought a key and once upgraded to Windows 8 Pro before. (It was not OEM anymore after upgrade)

But when I heard Windows 10 is going to be released and all free to upgrade from Windows 7, I thought it is great time to do fast and clean upgrade so I factory reset my pc from reserved partition to old Windows 7 and I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 home premium (oem).

Then (ding dong) I realised it upgraded to Windows 10 Home version.

I google'd and realised I could just upgrade from Windows 8 Pro to Windows 10 Pro. Right? I mean I can do this right?
Upgrade Way: (Windows 7 home premium oem (with bought cd key)--> Windows 8 Pro (freely)--> Windows 10 Pro)

Can I do this?

Also I have second question. How can I upgrade after free upgrade thing is gone later this year. From usb?
So I mean it asks product key if you clean install,
so it won't ask product key if I upgrade from usb? (for future)

My third question:
Also is there a way to use my Windows 8 Pro upgrade key on different PC (I plan to buy new desktop) without Windows 7's original version. Or can I use Windows 10 on it (with my laptop's product key/licence)?

withcheo7,

To upgrade your current Windows 10 Home to Pro:
Trigger the upgrade to Pro by changing the product key to the Windows 10 Pro generic product key:
VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T for Windows 10 Pro

Then once you have an non-activated Windows Pro, enter your Windows 8 Pro product key to activate.

For the future, this computer will now have digital entitlements to both Windows 10 Home and Pro stored on Microsoft activation servers and you will be able to install either version by skipping entering a product key and it will activate anyway based on retrieving the digital entitlement (unless you change the motherboard).

Now moving to a new computer - it depends on the type of Windows 8 license you purchased. If you purchased an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 - and the original Windows 7 was OEM - the Windows 8 will also be OEM and illegal to use on the new computer. If you purchased a retail Windows 8 full version - then you will have to re-install Windows 10 Home on the old computer (based on the Windows 7 Home license on it), then you can legally use the Windows 8 Pro on the new computer. You can start with a clean install of Windows 10 on the new computer and use the Windows 8 Pro product key to activate it.

Note: if the new computer comes with a product key stored in bios - Windows 10 will clean install and activate the version the product key in bios is for. So if that is Home version, then you will do the same procedure above to upgrade it to Pro.

Note2: All of this assumes that you stay within the same edition series of Windows: N edition, Single Language edition, or the "full" (not N or Single Language) edition.

NavyLCDR said:

withcheo7,

To upgrade your current Windows 10 Home to Pro:
Trigger the upgrade to Pro by changing the product key to the Windows 10 Pro generic product key:
VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T for Windows 10 Pro

Then once you have an non-activated Windows Pro, enter your Windows 8 Pro product key to activate.

For the future, this computer will now have digital entitlements to both Windows 10 Home and Pro stored on Microsoft activation servers and you will be able to install either version by skipping entering a product key and it will activate anyway based on retrieving the digital entitlement (unless you change the motherboard).

Now moving to a new computer - it depends on the type of Windows 8 license you purchased. If you purchased an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 - and the original Windows 7 was OEM - the Windows 8 will also be OEM and illegal to use on the new computer. If you purchased a retail Windows 8 full version - then you will have to re-install Windows 10 Home on the old computer (based on the Windows 7 Home license on it), then you can legally use the Windows 8 Pro on the new computer. You can start with a clean install of Windows 10 on the new computer and use the Windows 8 Pro product key to activate it.

Note: if the new computer comes with a product key stored in bios - Windows 10 will clean install and activate the version the product key in bios is for. So if that is Home version, then you will do the same procedure above to upgrade it to Pro.

Note2: All of this assumes that you stay within the same edition series of Windows: N edition, Single Language edition, or the "full" (not N or Single Language) edition.

Oh my god I really really thank you. I just tried to upgrade by cd-key you have given.
It upgraded successfully and it said it was invalid.
I basically put my Windows 8 Pro cd-key down and servers accepted it.

Now I am an Pro, I was so worried thinking I needed to pass that complete upgrade way from Windows 7.

Now problem is solved very easily! Thank you. :)

withche07 said:

Now problem is solved very easily! Thank you. :)

No problem, glad it worked for you!