Accidentally upgraded to Windows 10 Pro from Home, can't go back?

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

  1. Esmonde
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
       New #1

    Accidentally upgraded to Windows 10 Pro from Home, can't go back?


    Hi, earlier on today I read an article saying how you can update your Windows to Professional edition for free. I entered the key they provided and it did upgrade me to Pro. However, my windows now says I need to activate Windows. I obviously thought that the activation was part of the whole thing. I want to revert back to the Home edition but I do not have the key for it because I automatically upgraded my Windows 7 to 10 when it first came out. Is there anyway I can revert back to Home and have an activated Windows account? I also have no backups available solely because I have nowhere to store them.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  3. f14tomcat
    Posts : 56,997
    Multi-boot Windows 10/11 - RTM, RP, Beta, and Insider
       New #2

    Esmonde said:
    Hi, earlier on today I read an article saying how you can update your Windows to Professional edition for free. I entered the key they provided and it did upgrade me to Pro. However, my windows now says I need to activate Windows. I obviously thought that the activation was part of the whole thing. I want to revert back to the Home edition but I do not have the key for it because I automatically upgraded my Windows 7 to 10 when it first came out. Is there anyway I can revert back to Home and have an activated Windows account? I also have no backups available solely because I have nowhere to store them.
    If you have not done a disk cleanup since the upgrade to Pro, please look at this tutorial for how to rollback to the previous version.

    Go Back to the Previous Version of Windows in Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

    And a note: I do not know where you got that "key", but there are many dubious sites for such purposes. They are usually nothing but trouble. If all else fails, you will need to do a clean install. But try the rollback first.

    And find a way to do proper backups, they are your insurance. Just giving some advice.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  4. Bree
    Posts : 33,730
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       New #3

    Welcome to TenForums @Esmonde

    If you upgraded from W7 Home to W10 Home then you have a digital licence for Home stored on Microsoft's activation servers so a generic Home key will do, your windows will activate automatically once it is switched back to Home.

    You can change back from Pro to Home by following @Kari's instructions in this post.
    How do I change from windows 10 pro to windows 10 home?

    At step 8 you can use the generic Windows 10 Home key: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  6. Esmonde
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Bree said:
    Welcome to TenForums @Esmonde

    If you upgraded from W7 Home to W10 Home then you have a digital licence for Home stored on Microsoft's activation servers so a generic Home key will do, your windows will activate automatically once it is switched back to Home.

    You can change back from Pro to Home by following @Kari's instructions in this post.
    How do I change from windows 10 pro to windows 10 home?

    At step 8 you can use the generic Windows 10 Home key: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
    Hey, I have done the steps and have installed back to Windows 10 Home, but it stills says I have to activate my windows. I definitely upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 when it first came out without a key. Now I have lost a few apps and my windows has gone back to default . Have I done something wrong or did I miss something? I used a Windows 10 ISO and the generic W10 Home key provided but it still says I need to activate. Please respond.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  7. f14tomcat
    Posts : 56,997
    Multi-boot Windows 10/11 - RTM, RP, Beta, and Insider
       New #5

    Would he be able to get his OEM key with ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums and enter that?

    Or is there maybe some confusion between activate and verify? They are different.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  8. Esmonde
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    f14tomcat said:
    Would he be able to get his OEM key with ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums and enter that?

    Or is there maybe some confusion between activate and verify? They are different.
    When I use 'ShowKeyPlus' it says "OEM Key not present in firmware" ??

    Also another big problem is that before I went back to W10 Home I had roughly 100gb left on my C drive (my only drive). And now I have roughly the same amount but no apps and I have lost GB's worth of steam games but the total amount of GB left in my C drive is basically untouched??

    EDIT: I have just noticed that I have 3 new files in my C drive "Windows", "Windows.old" and "Windows10Upgrade". In the 'Windows.old' folder there are all my files, steam games etc. Can I just use this file or transfer this file over to me new file? I'm so confused.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  9. f14tomcat
    Posts : 56,997
    Multi-boot Windows 10/11 - RTM, RP, Beta, and Insider
       New #7

    Esmonde said:
    When I use 'ShowKeyPlus' it says "OEM Key not present in firmware" ??

    Also another big problem is that before I went back to W10 Home I had roughly 100gb left on my C drive (my only drive). And now I have roughly the same amount but no apps and I have lost GB's worth of steam games but the total amount of GB left in my C drive is basically untouched??

    EDIT: I have just noticed that I have 3 new files in my C drive "Windows", "Windows.old" and "Windows10Upgrade". In the 'Windows.old' folder there are all my files, steam games etc. Can I just use this file or transfer this file over to me new file? I'm so confused.
    Stop.

    If you have the Windows.old, that is the old system prior to upgrade that is created by Windows during the upgrade process. That is what I was referring to in post #2, the Recovery and Rollback link I posted.

    Accidentally upgraded to Windows 10 Pro from Home, can't go back? - Windows 10 Forums

    This is what you want to try to do. Rollback to previous. Do Not do any disk cleanup until this is all solved or you will loose it. Do Not mess with that folder. Do the tutorial.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  10. alphanumeric
    Posts : 15,222
    Windows 10 IoT
       New #8

    f14tomcat said:
    Would he be able to get his OEM key with ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums and enter that?

    Or is there maybe some confusion between activate and verify? They are different.
    Windows 7 PC's don't store the key in the BIOS. All that's there is an OEM identifier, a SLIC table. No key is stored though. Showkey will most times get the key if you run it on a PC that was upgraded from 7 to 10. The 7 key is stored in the registry. Once you clean install 10 its gone though. The upgrade from Home to Pro likely erases it too.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  12. alphanumeric
    Posts : 15,222
    Windows 10 IoT
       New #9

    What happens when you try to activate 10 Home now? Open a command Prompt (admin) and try running slmgr /ato
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  13. Esmonde
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #10

    f14tomcat said:
    Stop.

    If you have the Windows.old, that is the old system prior to upgrade that is created by Windows during the upgrade process. That is what I was referring to in post #2, the Recovery and Rollback link I posted.

    Accidentally upgraded to Windows 10 Pro from Home, can't go back? - Windows 10 Forums

    This is what you want to try to do. Rollback to previous. Do Not do any disk cleanup until this is all solved or you will loose it. Do Not mess with that folder. Do the tutorial.
    I have rolled back to W10 Pro edition and all my files are the same. However, in the recovery tab the only options are 'Reset this PC', 'Advanced start-up' or 'more recovery options'. I have also tried to just enter the W10 Home key into the activation tab but that doesn't work.

    Is there a way I can go back to W10 Home and try to activate it using the method provided by alphanumeric?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

  Related Discussions
I have a new touchscreen PC & after I booted it up, I started to remove & clean up all the junkware & tried to optimize the settings as much as I could & I must have did something because now my homescreen is gone & I get this in the picture. I no...
Hi, If I get a laptop with Windows 10 Home pre-installed, then upgrade it to Pro, what happens during a clean install? Will it install to Home with me having to upgrade to Pro again, each time I do a clean install? This will be a batch of...
The event information is Log Name: System Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM Date: 12/22/2015 7:19:48 PM Event ID: 10016 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: SYSTEM...
Hi guys, in my previous posts I had mentioned that I rolled back to Win 7 due to some issues mainly slow boot. I upgraded back today and the issue still remains. I have tried many of the fixes given online but with little success. In BIOS...
I was just doing a little checking today and found that my win7 x64 installation Is now a windows 10 x86 installation after the upgrade The ISO I created from the download also pulls x64, but the installation was x86 The disk was setup as MBR...
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 13:10.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums