My Windows 10 1809 Update Experience

Phone Man · 14 Jan 2019

Decided to update from 1803 to 1809.

I did my old Laptop 1st and will do my other Desktops later.

WU would not offer the update so I downloaded the ISO but it failed to update.

I then did a clean install and that worked.

This laptop started it's life on Windows 8 Home and has gone thru Window 8.1, 10 Home and 10 Pro.

I was on W10 Home until a year ago and then used an old W7 Pro key to update to W10 Pro which was a simple task of just changing the key.

After my clean install I was again on W10 Home and activated. It must have read the Bios during install as it never asked. So I used the W7 Pro key and after a reboot which was a surprise and I was updated to W10 Enterprise which of course did not activate. I gave it another try with the W7 Pro key and in a flash I was on W10 Pro and activated.

All is well and almost finished my program installs and getting setup.

Desktops are next and hope they update as they have a lot more programs.

Jim

UPDATED: The Laptop came with Windows 8 Home so I corrected this post.

I have just finished my 1st Desktop which was offered 1809 through Windows Update. It went very smooth and all is well.

I will do my wife's Desktop tomorrow.

Jim

Did my wife's Desktop a short time ago and again Windows Update offered 1809 and all is fine.

Jim

Bree · 14 Jan 2019

Phone Man said:

After my clean install I was again on W10 Home and activated. It must have read the Bios during install as it never asked....

This PC must have originally been built with the Home edition of Windows 8 (or above). Was your W7 Core a downgrade option when you bought it? A PC built for W8 has a key embedded in the bios. Setup will read this and skip asking for a key or which edition (Home or Pro) to install. A PC build for W7 did not have a key in the bios, rather it had a CoA sticker with an OEM key on it. For a clean install on a W7 PC you would have been asked for a key, and if you skipped entering a key it would ask which edition to install.

...So I used the W7 Pro key and after a reboot which was a surprise and I was updated to W10 Enterprise which of course did not activate. I gave it another try with the W7 Pro key and in a flash I was on W10 Pro and activated.

For future reference should you ever need to clean install again, remember that this PC now has two digital licenses, the original one for Home and the one for Pro that it got when you first upgraded with the W7 Pro key.

You can clean install Pro and skip entering a key when asked, it will activate from its existing digital license. Or if you clean install Home, because you already have a 10 Pro digital license you can upgrade Home to Pro by using the generic W10 Pro key, the one ending in -3V66T.

Generic Product Keys to Install Windows 10 Editions | Tutorials

spapakons · 16 Jan 2019

You could have downloaded the ISO, mount it and start setup. Or even better, copy all files to a folder and start setup from there. It should succeed and spare you the clean installation trouble. If you clean install again in the future, Windows 10 will again detect the key in BIOS and install 10 Home (unless the media used has only the Pro version or is modified to bypass the key and let you choose). Then you can use your Windows 7 Pro key to upgrade to 10 Pro again.

Bree · 16 Jan 2019

spapakons said:

...you can use your Windows 7 Pro key to upgrade to 10 Pro again.

As the PC has an existing digital licence for Pro you can also use the generic Pro key to upgrade to Pro again.