Need Help With Clean Install Of Windows 10 Home

NavyLCDR said:

When doing the clean install you have to either delete the existing partitions and install to the resulting unallocated space or at least reformat the partition you are going to install to. Then if there is no Product Key stored in the computer's bios, it will let you choose which version you want to install. In order to delete the partitions or format the existing partition first, you will want to select the custom install option.

Won't he still need a product key for Pro since his original was Home ?

jds63 said:

Won't he still need a product key for Pro since his original was Home ?

Yes, he would if he wanted Pro, but he doesn't want Pro.

NavyLCDR said:

Yes, he would if he wanted Pro, but he doesn't want Pro.

Seemed like he did at one point, by some of the questions asked here, but now wants to go back to Home edition.

Ztruker said:

I did, you're right, rats! Sorry Rocky. Follow the Clean install instructions then I guess.

The download from Techbench says the following:

Windows 10 editions below are valid for both Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Professional.

Just try that link and it didn't recognize that I run the Pro version. Looks like a good news! It should contain both...

OK guys, I'm back. This was a real nightmare. Of course I created the problem myself by entering the generic license key for Windows 10 Pro into the upgrade section of the activation area of the settings. It took the generic license, which surprised me, but it was not activated. In the lower right hand corner of my screen it indicated I was running an unactivated copy of Windows 10, so I wanted to get back to just running Home Edition. I tried the techbench ISO and it would not let me choose, it detected a Pro Edition on my computer so it automatically installed the Pro Edition. Also a roll back brought me back to Pro. I was on the phone with Microsoft for a total of about 6 hours spread out over 3 days and finally the bottom line was that I had to start over with installing Windows 8, then upgrading to Windows 8.1 then upgrading to Windows 10 and then doing a clean install of Windows 10. This nightmare consumed about 4 days of my life but I can't complain because I brought it on myself. Man was this the most frustrating situation a person could imagine.

I'm back and running the latest edition of Windows 10 Home Edition, but the whole thing was a real nightmare. Thanks to everybody that posted with suggestions, but this situation was deeper than just a simple fix. Even Microsoft representatives and technicians couldn't fix it.

Oh I think I see what happened here. He was upgrading, and when he tried using the pro keys, MS must have recorded that in his online digital signature. From then on, when it checked in with MS, it was recorded that he was on Pro, when he should have been in Home.

That would have been a nightmare, glad you and MS were able to sort that one out. The takeaway, if you want Pro, just pay for it. It might be cheaper than the lost time trying to obtain and use it in a non legit manner.

pparks1 said:

Oh I think I see what happened here. He was upgrading, and when he tried using the pro keys, MS must have recorded that in his online digital signature. From then on, when it checked in with MS, it was recorded that he was on Pro, when he should have been in Home.

No, because Pro was never activated there was nothing pushed onto MS activation servers. Only ACTIVATIONS are stored on MS servers, not installs. What happened was he first attempted to run setup.exe from within Windows 10 Pro, which causes an upgrade to run, not a clean install. The upgrade will only upgrade the existing version to the matching version being installed. It wasn't until he booted from the Windows install media and did a clean install that he could change the version being installed.

kind of sad we all know what went wrong and how to avoid that painful path but M$ did not...