This happened once. HDD died with Pro upgrade installed. Is there an easier way to get Pro back besides calling
MS ? I now have Pro on 3 machines this way and will be adding number 4 ? Or a different way to get Pro for $99 ?
If you're replacing the HDD on a computer that had Windows 10 Pro installed and activated you should be able to download Windows and do a clean install. Windows should activate automatically. If it doesn't activate the generic Pro key should work. If not then you may have to call MS.
I thought I would have to install PRO first, which can't be downloaded unless Home would be upgraded to Pro ??
If you use the MCT/Media Creation Tool to download the .iso file used to create the Bootable DVD disc or the Bootable USB Drive it should automatically pick up the last version installed and activated. There's 2 choices, either Upgrade this computer or download for install on another computer, there's no choice between Home and Pro for the downloads. Then there's the choices of x86 or x64 or Both. Has worked for me on a few computers.
You say Pro upgrade, so I'm assuming the machine came with Home originally and you bought it a Pro licence to upgrade it.
When you installed the Pro key to upgrade from Home to Pro the machine got a digital licence recorded on the MS activation servers and linked to the hardware ID of the PC. This ID does not include the HDD so you can replace the dead HDD, do a clean install of Pro and it will activate from the existing digital licence.
There is a small complication if the machine came with 8/8.1/10 Home pre-installed by the OEM. There will be a Home key embedded in the bios. The install media's Setup.exe will detect this and automatically install Home. In that case, after Home has installed the existing digital licence for Pro will allow you to upgrade from Home to Pro by changing the installed key to the generic Pro key.
And neither am I.
Only got to look at the threads in this forum - and many, many, many other forums to gauge the success rate of imaging "re-installations". Not worth it. Can have Windows 10 and all software re-installed withing 2 hours, rather than spend days troubleshooting why image restoration won't work (been there, done that, threw away the T-shirt!).
That`s hilarious, Macrium works great. You and all those others weren`t doing something right, not gonna argue over it.
And yes, I totally agree with you about doing a clean install and installing your programs not taking long at all, but it can just be a PITA
Last edited by AddRAM; 24 Mar 2020 at 21:32.
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