Volume PRO license to HOME license ? (WINDOWS 10)

Hi, my son's laptop (purchased outright from a large chain electronics store in another country) has just started popping up with a "Your Windows licence will expire soon" message.

It turns out that it has a volume licence and we would be coming to the end of our 180 days. I have no way to go back to the store where I purchased it to sort out a valid licence and I don't have access to any of the boxes/documentation at the moment.

Q1: From my little understanding, purchasing a new licence is my only option. Is this correct?

Q2: Assuming I do need to purchase a new licence, is there any issue with purchasing a HOME license if the machine currently has a PRO license on it?

Q3: Is there a cheaper option for students as this laptop is used primarily for school work?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, this was an unexpected development in our adventures in home learning and this is all a foreign language to me.

It sounds like they have installed a pirated copy if it was brand new. Often if you ring ms and explain and give supplier details they may help you as their piracy hot line will be after the supplier if you paid with credit card they can get you a refund as well

JenY said:

Hi, my son's laptop (purchased outright from a large chain electronics store in another country) has just started popping up with a "Your Windows licence will expire soon" message. It turns out that it has a volume licence and we would be coming to the end of our 180 days.

Welcome to Ten Forums JenY.

Was this a used laptop? If so, the best case scenario is that it was an ex-corporate machine that had Windows installed by their IT department. This would use a KMS key and requires regular contact with the company's KMS server to keep it activated. The worst case scenario is that it is a pirated copy of Windows that was installed and you have been scammed.

Q1: From my little understanding, purchasing a new licence is my only option. Is this correct?

Probably yes, but there's an outside chance you may not need to. See later in this post....

Q2: Assuming I do need to purchase a new licence, is there any issue with purchasing a HOME license if the machine currently has a PRO license on it?

I'm afraid you cannot downgrade Pro to Home by changing the installed key. It works the other way to upgrade Home to Pro, but not for a downgrade. You can purchase and install Home but it has to be a clean install, nothing will be kept. Anyway, as we cannot be sure of what exactly was installed and whether it is a hacked copy of Windows then a clean install would be safest.

Q3: Is there a cheaper option for students as this laptop is used primarily for school work?

If you are very lucky, then there may be a free option. If this laptop was originally supplied with Windows 8 or 10 pre-installed by the manufacturer then an OEM key will be embedded in its bios. Run ShowKeyPlus to find out. If it shows a 25 character string of number/letters then it has a key that entitles you to install and activate Windows 10. The OEM description will tell you what edition, either 'Core' which means Home, or Pro. You will be able to clean install that edition of W10 and it will activate with a digital licence.

If there is no key then you will have to purchase Windows. A clean install would be best, even if you do purchase Pro.

ShowKeyPlus

Clean Install Windows 10

JenY is in Australia according to their profile.

Thank you for the responses, particularly your comprehensive post Bree (and for your welcome to the forums).

I have just run ShowKeyPlus and it does have an OEM key listed, so I am feeling hopeful. However, below that it also says:

OEM Description: Win 10 RTM CoreCountrySpecific OEM: DM which, on brief further research will only work with a Chinese version of Windows (?) Does this explain the volume licence when they set it to English for me in the shop? (Again, sorry if this is dumb question, I am only on the surface of understanding this).

I am resigned to doing a clean install and probably buying a new licence.

So now I am searching more broadly for licences and would something like this be a legitimate version of Windows?
OfficeAU
It is so much cheaper than on the microsoft website that I just don't know! (AU$59 compared to AU$339 for Pro) .

Thought as much. If it looks too good to be true...

OfficeWorks price is basically the same as Microsoft. Is there anything wrong with me purchasing from the Computeractive site that Bastet referred to before? Though how do I know if that is real?

How do I know that anything is real???

Spiralling into existential distress.

JenY said:

OEM Description: Win 10 RTM CoreCountrySpecific OEM: DM which, on brief further research will only work with a Chinese version of Windows (?) Does this explain the volume licence when they set it to English for me in the shop? (Again, sorry if this is dumb question, I am only on the surface of understanding this).

No, it's not a dumb question and your research is correct. The shop was acting illegally if they installed a KMS version of W10 Pro and should be reported to Microsoft as Samuria suggests in post #2.


There are two types of volume licensing keys, the KMS key that the shop used and a MAK key that activates permanently.

Microsoft said:

Key Management Service (KMS) and Multiple Activation Key (MAK). KMS allows organizations to activate systems within their own network. MAK activates systems on a one-time basis, using Microsoft's hosted activation services.

https://licensingapps.microsoft.com/product-activation


As for 'cut price' W10, you are taking a risk. Some 'too cheap' keys (particularly on eBay) will be MAK keys being sold illegitimately. They may (or may not) activate, depending on how many times the MAK key has been sold and used, and whether Microsoft are aware this MAK key is being used inappropriately and have blocked it.

If you purchase a key enter it in ShowKeyPlus' Check Edition. It will tell you what type of key it is.