How to switch Windows 10 home/PRO licenses between 2 notebook?

Hi all,

I own 2 notebooks:

The first one (the older one), with the following upgrade history:
Windows 7 OEM -> Upgraded to Windows 8.1 PRO with a bought and legitimate license -> Upgraded to Windows 10 PRO with free Micorsoft upgrade.

The second one (the new one), with the following upgrade history:
Windows 8.1 OEM -> Upgraded to Windows 10 HOME with free Microsoft upgrade.


I need to switch the above licenses: I want Windows 10 PRO on my new notebook, and Windows 10 HOME on my old one.


How to do this?

I've tried to contact Microsoft support but they answer me that I have to format and reinstall everything on both PC (see my last post here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...2-894c88fd8b01 )

Is there anoter more practical solutions? Changing product key or something similar?

Thank you very much for any help.

You can transfer the Purchased Pro Licence - but not the OEM

MXT said:

How to do this?

I've tried to contact Microsoft support but they answer me that I have to format and reinstall everything on both PC (see my last post here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...2-894c88fd8b01 )

Is there anoter more practical solutions? Changing product key or something similar?

Thank you very much for any help.

You basically have two choices.

1. Go back to original Windows 7 on old notebook and upgrade that directly to Windows 10 Home. Go back to original Windows 8.1 on the new notebook, upgrade that to Windows 8.1 Pro using your purchased upgrade key, upgrade that to Windows 10 Pro.

2. Purchase a Windows 10 Pro Pack (I think it is $119) to upgrade your existing Windows 10 Home on the new notebook to Windows 10 Pro.

Note: Going back to original Windows 7 on old notebook and upgrading that to Windows 10 Home is only required to comply with the End Users License Agreement with Microsoft to free up, legally, the upgrade to Pro that you purchased. Physically, it is not required - nothing will deactivate.

Kyhi said:

You can transfer the Purchased Pro Licence - but not the OEM

Thank you for your answer. So, I cannot obtain my goal. From your answer I can understand that I can change my new notebook Product Key using the Product Key from old notebook, but then I could not use the old notebook after that, unless both notebook can run the same Product Key.

Is this correct?

My wife just got a new laptop that she upgraded to Windows 10 Home. We looked through all the differences, and I didn't see anything that a typical user would need on the Pro side, so she's fine with Home. There's no performance or support differences between the two, so do you really need to switch?

MXT said:

Thank you for your answer. So, I cannot obtain my goal. From your answer I can understand that I can change my new notebook Product Key using the Product Key from old notebook, but then I could not use the old notebook after that, unless both notebook can run the same Product Key.

Is this correct?

You can't change anything in Windows 10 with your old product key because it is for the Windows 8.1 upgrade to Pro, right?

Thank you too NavyLCDR,

About your first suggestion (point 1): I'm not sure that my purchased Window 8 PRO license would apply on existing Window 8.1 OEM license: I purchased that license as an specific upgrade from Windows 7 to 8...

I'm afraid that the solution 2 is the only practical solution that remains for me... And is hard to me to think that I have to pay another time for a license I already bought in the past...

DeaconFrost said:

My wife just got a new laptop that she upgraded to Windows 10 Home. We looked through all the differences, and I didn't see anything that a typical user would need on the Pro side, so she's fine with Home. There's no performance or support differences between the two, so do you really need to switch?

Yes: I need Hyper-V functionalities...

MXT said:

Thank you too NavyLCDR,

About your first suggestion (point 1): I'm not sure that my purchased Window 8 PRO license would apply on existing Window 8.1 OEM license: I purchased that license as an specific upgrade from Windows 7 to 8...

I would think it would work to upgrade the existing Windows 8.1 OEM license on the new notebook. If you go back to Windows 8.1 on the new notebook, I think it is under ADD Features in control panel. Somewhere in there is the option to Upgrade Now, or something like that. Anyway - you enter the Windows 8/8.1 Pro key there and it will download the upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro.

MXT said:

I'm afraid that the solution 2 is the only practical solution that remains for me... And is hard to me to think that I have to pay another time for a license I already bought in the past...

You aren't being required to pay twice for the same license. They are requiring you to use the license that you bought for the purpose that you bought it for. They didn't sell you that license to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro - they sold you and you bought that license to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro.