I purchased windows 10 Home several years ago for like a $100 (i didnt know you can get cheap keys back then)
i want to upgrade to PRO but i dont want to spend another $100 to upgrade from home to pro.
i also do not want an OEM key, i want a retail key.
what would be the best way to do that upgrade for the cheapest price?
I've accomplished both OEM and Retail upgrade to Pro without issue using a Pro key I had left over from a Microsoft program that was discontinued a few years ago. The important part was that the key had not already been used. The program I was in allowed 10 uses, same for Office, shame they quit it [may still have a couple of installs available].
As for cheap, that will be subjective as to how reliable the seller is.
Any cheap retail key comes from a dodgy source (often pirated) and could eventually get blocked, meaning you could not use it on another PC.
None of the regulars here will ever recommend you a cheap source for two reasons:
1) It is against forum rules to encourage piracy
2) If you got ripped off (which does happen), we would be gutted to feel we gave bad advice.
In the end, it is Caveat Emptor.
Hi,
I've used lots of cheap keys even for win-7 all retail and all work great.
I had an issue with one cheap Windows 10 product key. When I went to use it, Microsoft said "Already in use on another computer". The email had the instructions to do phone activation and lie to Microsoft, but I only purchased the product key as a $9 experiment, so I wasn't going to activate it by calling and lying to Microsoft.
I have used Win 7 Pro keys a few times, usually found on the bottom of old laptops or sides of cases, that I had around and didn't use anymore.
As far as I know you can't buy a Win 7 key anymore so anyone selling one shouldn't be and the key won't work. I've tried to get some keys for old Office, none ever worked.
There are usually offers here: Guru3D.com
It is definitely not a site for piracy.
Whether the low-cost keys you can get from there will work, I can't guess. I've never tried a <$10 key. I have used a $40 Pro key, which activated just fine. Haven't checked to see whether MS has blacklisted it.
It is back. Now £49.99 for win10 Pro retail
Computeractive Software Store - discounted downloadable software
My team leader at work bought a new PC and it had Windows 10 home. He wanted Pro for a couple of reasons. I told him about the dodgy sites and recommended that he get the $99 license key from Microsoft. I gave him a link to the Microsoft Corporation store on Amazon.com and it was $99. He got the key installed it and "dun, dun, duhhhhhh.....got an error that it was already in use". He is now fighting Amazon and the reseller claiming to be Microsoft and selling a previously used key.
My team leader, just decided to go straight to the Microsoft store and bought another key for $99 directly from Microsoft and it worked.
So, with anything, you mileage may vary depending upon the key and the source. Be willing to lose your money either at the start or sometime down the road.
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