Downgrade Windows 10 Pro for Workstations to Windows 10 Pro  

ashleyg said:

It was a bit messy not being online and didn't appreciate was that even though it said it couldn't apply that key, it actually went on to apply the entitled updates/features and after a reboot

Yes, that is a common bug in Windows 10. There is an error message usually thrown that is pretty much meaningless when you reboot the computer.

Yes, thanks Paul - I value the tutorials and cut my teeth on several of them.
Seems I had a few constraints to work within which contributed to the difficulty I encountered. Thanks to the knowledge of members on this board I managed to get it sorted.
ashleyg

Hello all. My first post after finding this really helpful article on exactly what I am trying to do but I have one extra question.

My situation is as follows. I am completely replacing my old PC with a new built-from-scratch PC. My old PC has an OEM license for WIndows 10 Pro activated via a product key. Once activated I then purchased the Windows for Workstations (WfW) upgrade directly from the Microsoft Store and that magically upgraded the license to Windows Professional for Workstations (maybe with a reboot, it was 3 years ago and I forget the exact details).

Since I know that the OEM license on my old PC isn't transferable to a new machine and I want to parallel run both PCs for a week or so as I move stuff across I've purchased a full retail edition of Windows 11 Pro for my new PC and activated that yesterday by entering the retail license key. If I follow the instructions in this article and now downgrade my old PC to Windows 10 Pro will that then "release" the license for the WfW upgrade that I previously purchased from the Microsoft Store so that it then becomes available to use to upgrade my new PC from Windows 11 Pro to Windows 11 Pro for Workstations? I paid £150 for my WfW upgrade license requiring an already licensed Pro system so at that price I'm really hoping that it does have transfer rights and isn't also an OEM non-transferable license.

Does anyone know if a WfW upgrade purchased from the Microsoft Store is transferable (even if the Windows Pro license that it was upgrading was an OEM license) and if so how does the process work in terms of releasing the WfW upgrade license from the old machine and then re-applying it to the new machine?

JulianFP said:

Hello all. My first post after finding this really helpful article on exactly what I am trying to do but I have one extra question.

My situation is as follows. I am completely replacing my old PC with a new built-from-scratch PC. My old PC has an OEM license for WIndows 10 Pro activated via a product key. Once activated I then purchased the Windows for Workstations (WfW) upgrade directly from the Microsoft Store and that magically upgraded the license to Windows Professional for Workstations (maybe with a reboot, it was 3 years ago and I forget the exact details).

Since I know that the OEM license on my old PC isn't transferable to a new machine and I want to parallel run both PCs for a week or so as I move stuff across I've purchased a full retail edition of Windows 11 Pro for my new PC and activated that yesterday by entering the retail license key. If I follow the instructions in this article and now downgrade my old PC to Windows 10 Pro will that then "release" the license for the WfW upgrade that I previously purchased from the Microsoft Store so that it then becomes available to use to upgrade my new PC from Windows 11 Pro to Windows 11 Pro for Workstations? I paid £150 for my WfW upgrade license requiring an already licensed Pro system so at that price I'm really hoping that it does have transfer rights and isn't also an OEM non-transferable license.

Does anyone know if a WfW upgrade purchased from the Microsoft Store is transferable (even if the Windows Pro license that it was upgrading was an OEM license) and if so how does the process work in terms of releasing the WfW upgrade license from the old machine and then re-applying it to the new machine?

This is what I would try: assuming you are logging into the old and new computers with the same Microsoft Account:
1. Do not do anything with the old computer. Simply shut it down as you normally do.
2. Log into the new computer with your same Microsoft Account. Disconnect the new computer from all sources of internet, unplug ethernet cable, turn off WiFi, or disable the network adapters. You just need to be disconnected from the internet, however you choose to do it.
3. Upgrade Pro to WfW by changing the product key to the generic for WfW: DXG7C-N36C4-C4HTG-X4T3X-2YV77
4. You might receive an error, just ignore it. Reboot the computer and you should boot into WfW, but it will not be activated.
5. Reconnect the computer to the internet.
6. Attempt to transfer the digital license for WfW from the old computer to the new computer following the steps here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...EBD=Windows_10

NOTE: if Windows 10 Pro for Workstations fails to activate, you can go back to Windows 10 Pro at any time simply by changing the product key back to the generic for Pro: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

You can freely switch between any of the "Pro" editions of Windows 10/11 simply by changing product keys. The only edition change you can't make with a product key is downgrading Pro to Home. Also, the digital licenses and product keys are exactly the same and interchangeable between Windows 10 and 11.