Win 10 Pro upgrade and ended up with a Win 11 Home instead??!


  1. Posts : 120
    Win 10 Pro 64 bit
       #1

    Win 10 Pro upgrade and ended up with a Win 11 Home instead??!


    I've got a Dell XPS 13 8th gen i5 which was running Win 10 Pro fully activated and wanted to install Win 11. I decided to start afresh and to do so by downloading Win 11 from here using the second option to a USB stick.
    I then booted from the USB and installed Win 11 wiping out the previous Win 10 installation completely. The problem is I've now ended up with Win 11 Home instead of Win 11 Pro. Not sure why this has happened. Would have assumed whatever hash MS uses to identify computers that it would have picked up this computer previously had Win10 Pro and therefore installed Win 11 Pro by default.
    Could someone point me in the right direction as to how I go about getting a Win 11 Pro install on my laptop please?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       #2

    Go to the Activation Page in settings and change the product key to: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

    Win 10 Pro upgrade and ended up with a Win 11 Home instead??!-capture1.jpg
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 4,188
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       #3

    Let me explain why Windows installed the Home edition and how you can avoid this in the future.

    Your system originally shipped with the Home edition of Windows. The manufacturer has a signature in the BIOS that effectivly says "I was shipped from the factory with Windows Home edition". As a result, when you perform a new, clean installation of Windows, setup automatically selects the Home edition. This makes it easier for many consumers who may not even know what edition of Windows they have since it auto selects the same edition of Windows that the system shipped with.

    The work around is extremely simple:

    Create a text file in notepad called ei.cfg. Place the following two lines in that file:

    [Channel]
    Retail

    Place the ei.cfg file in \sources folder on your Windows installation media.

    Now, Windows setup will not auto select the edition to install. Instead, it will allow you to choose the edition to be installed.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 31,691
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #4

    Gusgf said:
    Could someone point me in the right direction as to how I go about getting a Win 11 Pro install on my laptop please?
    Both the above answers are correct.

    To expand a little on the second one....
    The manufacturer has a signature in the BIOS that effectivly says "I was shipped from the factory with Windows Home edition"
    ... what the manufacturer put in the bios was the Windows key for for your PC. It is this key that Setup reads on a clean install, and if it was a key for Home them it will install Home.

    As you have already done your clean install successfully, then the easiest and quickest way to get Pro is the first answer. Upgrade from Home to Pro with the generic Pro key that NavyLCDR gave you.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 120
    Win 10 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Absolutely amazing from you all. Not only have I got an answer that works I've learnt something.

    I bought this XPS from a seller on Ebay (came with Win10 Pro) and it's served me well for several years driving 3 external monitors. It's been lying dormant for a year since I got a desktop. I've decided to learn more about working in a Linux environment hence will install Linux on it. But first am setting up a fresh Win11 install on it and getting it fully prepped for when I decide to sell it. Once that SSD is prepped with Win11 I'll stick in another and install Linux.

    I'm still running Win10 on my desktop as it's tried and trusted and the Win11 interface seems very strange to me but I certainly don't know enough about it to know if it's an improvement for me as a Web Dev student.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 43,020
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #6

    As you've clean installed '11, should you wish to revert to '10, you can of course clean install '10 again...

    Note that the 22H2 build of Win 11 makes some improvements with respect to drag 'n drop to the taskbar, adding back features familiar in Win 10.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 14,023
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #7

    Earlier this week I pulled up an old computer running Linux with an ACPI error of AE_NOT_FOUND that had a BIOS issue and no BIOS update is available so I decided to put it back to the Win10 previously on it. During the Offline install from the USB Thumb drive a couple of questions came up, which version of the 6 available did I want, chose Pro. Then the question for the Product Key and responded didn't have one. After the install finished and I went Online to Update it got Activated, still without having to enter a key. It's working good. And it has had every version since Win7 on it but can't properly do Win11.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 31,691
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #8

    Berton said:
    .....it has had every version since Win7 on it but can't properly do Win11.


    If I can run Windows 11 on this, then you should be able to get it to run on anything.....

    Bree said:
    When W11 was first leaked I tested installing it on the least appropriate hardware I could find, my little Acer Aspire One D270 netbook..... Today I revisited that using the current latest RTM build 22000.527. Still works fine, albeit a little sluggish - no 64-bit OS should be asked to run in just 2GB of RAM
    Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware | Page 36 | Windows 11 Forum - post #717
      My Computers


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:59.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums