Windows 10 Pro, Activating on a new Machine

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  1. Posts : 149
    windows 10 Pro
       #1

    Windows 10 Pro, Activating on a new Machine


    I recently bought a new laptop with Windows 10 Home pre-installed.

    My old laptop was upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and I subsequently paid to upgrade to Win 10 Pro.

    I'd like to use Win 10 pro on the new machine and revert to Win 10 Home on the old.

    Is this possible?

    Any help or advice appreciated.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4,187
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       #2

    Sorry, you would need to purchase an upgrade to Pro on the new machine.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 149
    windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #3

    hsehestedt said:
    Sorry, you would need to purchase an upgrade to Pro on the new machine.
    Thanks for the reply, however it is rather disappointing as I've effectively paid for both versions and only want to swap them over.
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  4. Posts : 1,604
    Win 10 home 20H2 19042.1110
       #4
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  5. Posts : 4,187
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       #5

    @trevo, technically, on machine 1 you paid for Windows 8.1 at a steeply discounted price since the OEM gets a huge discount and then only paid an upgrade price for Pro.

    The license stays with the machine so a new machine requires a new license.

    The one exception is that if a machine completely dies and you need to replace it, Microsoft will allow that but then the original machine will no longer have a license.
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  6. Posts : 42,992
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #6

    Which Pro features do you feel you need to use and why?

    In some cases there are other ways to do what Pro provides, in others there is now somewhat less reason to use Pro than there was for individual users.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 149
    windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #7

    hsehestedt said:
    @trevo, technically, on machine 1 you paid for Windows 8.1 at a steeply discounted price since the OEM gets a huge discount and then only paid an upgrade price for Pro.

    The license stays with the machine so a new machine requires a new license.

    The one exception is that if a machine completely dies and you need to replace it, Microsoft will allow that but then the original machine will no longer have a license.
    Understood, thanks for the explanation.

    - - - Updated - - -

    dalchina said:
    Which Pro features do you feel you need to use and why?

    In some cases there are other ways to do what Pro provides, in others there is now somewhat less reason to use Pro than there was for individual users.
    I previously went to Pro for the Bitlocker encryption...
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  8. Posts : 685
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #8

    I had no issues going through three computers similar to what you want to do. I had W7 on an older machine, upgraded to W10 Home when it was offered. Bought a W10 Pro license, and then had W10 Pro. Got new machine about a year later that came with W10 Home. Went through the upgrade Windows procedure, entered my W10 Pro key, upgraded no issues. A couple years later I upgraded my machine with another new one. Did the same Home to Pro upgrade, and am currently on the third machine now on W10 Pro, and had no issues with licensing as I'm using it for the past three years. I haven't used the old machines, so maybe that's why, but I'd say enter your Pro key on the new machine, and see if it works. The worst that will happen is Windows will not accept it, and then you'll know for sure.

    PS - Also if you are using a Microsoft account your licensing info transfers also, so if you check your Microsoft account info you should see your license is valid for Pro, and you should be able to upgrade with no issues.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 149
    windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Bobby Phoenix said:
    I had no issues going through three computers similar to what you want to do. I had W7 on an older machine, upgraded to W10 Home when it was offered. Bought a W10 Pro license, and then had W10 Pro. Got new machine about a year later that came with W10 Home. Went through the upgrade Windows procedure, entered my W10 Pro key, upgraded no issues. A couple years later I upgraded my machine with another new one. Did the same Home to Pro upgrade, and am currently on the third machine now on W10 Pro, and had no issues with licensing as I'm using it for the past three years. I haven't used the old machines, so maybe that's why, but I'd say enter your Pro key on the new machine, and see if it works. The worst that will happen is Windows will not accept it, and then you'll know for sure.

    PS - Also if you are using a Microsoft account your licensing info transfers also, so if you check your Microsoft account info you should see your license is valid for Pro, and you should be able to upgrade with no issues.
    Interesting, but the potential difference in my case is I want to also use the old machine which currently has Pro on it...
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       #10

    trevo said:
    Interesting, but the potential difference in my case is I want to also use the old machine which currently has Pro on it...
    So it's sounding like you purchased one upgrade license for Windows 10 Pro that you want to use on two different computers at the same time?
      My Computer


 

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