Windows 10 home or pro

Ztruker said:

Is there any way to tell by looking at the contents of the hard drive if a Windows 10 install is Home or Pro.

Look for C:\Windows\System32\gpedit.msc, the Group Policy editor is only installed in Pro.


The 'retrieve key from backup' option in ShowKeyPlus can also be used to find the key in an offline system.

Ztruker said:

Is there any way to tell by looking at the contents of the hard drive if a Windows 10 install is Home or Pro.

I recently stumbled on this Software ID Tag found here:


C:\ProgramData\regid.1991-06.com.microsoft

Interesting find, it seems to have first appeared in Windows 8. That .swidtag is an xml file that can be opened in Notepad.

Bree said:

That .swidtag is an xml file that can be opened in Notepad.

I had assumed it was unreadable, so big thanks for that. And it's nice to have that build reference right there in black and white too.

Code:

    <product_title>Windows 10 Pro</product_title>
    <product_version>
        <name>10.0.18362.449</name>

There are commands that can be used with administrative command prompt.

With the bootable windows 10 iso > open Administrator:X:\windows\system32.exe and check to see whether they can be used while in Windows RE:

Code:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic datafile where name='c:\\windows\\explorer.exe' get version
Version
10.0.17763.771

Code:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>wmic os get caption
Caption
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

Thanks, everyone. The XML file is great for offline and the cmd is the perfect online solution. I've filed both for future reference.

There is also a tutorial:

See which Windows 10 Edition you have Installed