Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Home?

daphatgrant

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Update: I got it figured out after some excessive googling and some luck. This is for a complete reinstallation of Windows, everything will be erased.

Problem: My laptop came with Windows 8 Standard, I bought Windows 7 Pro and installed it. When Windows 10 came out I did the free upgrade but because the laptop came with Windows 8 Standard it upgraded to Windows 10 Home. This happened because the Windows Installer looked at the Windows 8 Standard key in the Bios not the Windows 7 Key on the OS drive.

Solution:
Create a Windows 10 installer on a USB drive using the Media Creation Tool. After the installer is finished, go to the "Sources" folder on the USB drive. Create a new .txt file and enter the following, replacing the x's with your Windows 7 Pro key.

[PID]
Value=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Save the file as PID.txt in the "Sources" folder. Reboot the machine, boot from the USB drive, install windows and check system to make sure that the Pro version is installed and that it is activated.



Hey [H], I just reinstalled windows and noticed that I am running Windows 10 Home. I previously had Windows 7 Pro on this computer, I previously did the upgrade and honestly I cannot remember if it upgraded to Pro. Any thoughts on what to do here? Should I call Microsoft? Reinstall 7 Pro and try the upgrade again? Did I somehow miss selecting Pro when I reinstalled?


Thanks for any input :)
 
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Install Windows 10 cleanly, ignore entering the Windows 7 Product Key during the installation (it'll ask you one or two times, skip it each time), then when the installation is completely finished get online (assuming you can) and then go to activate that Windows 10 installation and use the Windows 7 Product Key to do it. That should alleviate the issue you're having - you don't actually have to install Windows 7, then manually do the upgrade to 10 anymore (not since September 2015 or so). You can install 10 cleanly without a key then use the 7/8/8.1 key after the install to activate.

If that doesn't work or it bitches about the key already being used or not valid then a call to Microsoft would be a good idea (and probably required) at that point.
 
I used the media creation tool to create a usb installer. It never asked me which version to install or for a key. Should I be using another method of installation?
 
Was your computer made in the last four years? I would check for a small 1-inch Windows sticker which is tamper-resistant. If you see that, you have a firmware baked Win8+ key, which is probably for Home.
 
Ah, it came with 8, I bought 7 Pro and downgraded it 7. Well... Thoughts? Lol.
 
Bios says WIN8 STD MLS, so I'm guessing that's Windows 8, standard. Well damn. How do I get Windows 10 to see my Windows 7 Pro key not the Windows 8 key?
 
Bios says WIN8 STD MLS, so I'm guessing that's Windows 8, standard. Well damn. How do I get Windows 10 to see my Windows 7 Pro key not the Windows 8 key?

Do a clean install off of a USB stick or whatever and use the Windows 7 key to install.
 
Then you're not going to get Windows 10 Pro on there because the machine was licensed for Windows 8 (which I didn't realize from the first post). The information in the BIOS/UEFI is what determines what edition you're going to get which means Windows 10, not Windows 10 Pro unfortunately. You'd have to pay for a Windows 10 Pro upgrade to get that OS installed on it effectively.

Having said that you might be able to change the Product Key in Windows 10 and insert the Windows 7 Product Key - it more than likely will not work but it's worth trying. Here's some info:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12440/windows-10-activation
 
You could try resetting the bios to Other Operating System and then do a fresh install. If you upgraded from Win7Pro to Win10, your computer should be in the MS Win10 database as a Pro computer and a fresh install without the bios screwing things up should come out Pro. This is one reason why I always have my bios set for Other Operating System, plus it allows me to occasionally boot a Linux image.
 
Use the media creation tool again and recreate the USB install drive. Pay attention during the creation and select the options to update a different pc and be sure that you are using the right version of the software for the version you have a key for.
Then reinstall with the new usb drive.
 
You could try resetting the bios to Other Operating System and then do a fresh install. If you upgraded from Win7Pro to Win10, your computer should be in the MS Win10 database as a Pro computer and a fresh install without the bios screwing things up should come out Pro. This is one reason why I always have my bios set for Other Operating System, plus it allows me to occasionally boot a Linux image.
I have it set for other os.

Use the media creation tool again and recreate the USB install drive. Pay attention during the creation and select the options to update a different pc and be sure that you are using the right version of the software for the version you have a key for.
Then reinstall with the new usb drive.
This is exactly what I did.

Tiberian is right, being that a Win 8 std key is attached to the system not the drive that the OS is on I'm probably going to be sol.
 
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So, here we go guys, I got it figured out.

On the usb drive, under the folder "Sources" create a .txt file called PID, inside put

[PID]
Value=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Replacing the x's with your win 7 Pro key. This will cause the windows installer to look at this .txt and take the key from there and bypass the bios embedded key.

:)
 
That might not work with Windows 10 because you can't use the Windows 7 Product Key to actually install it - if you try to enter that key during the installation it will balk and tell you it's not a valid Product Key which is why I pointed out that you have to install Windows 10 clean, then when it is installed and online at that point you go to activate it by providing the Windows 7 Product Key - the issue here is that even with the PID file in the Sources folder if it's a Windows 7 key (which can't be used to install Windows 10) then it will more than likely crap out during the installation.

It can't hurt to try, of course, but I have doubts that it'll be successful in this situation.
 
That might not work with Windows 10 because you can't use the Windows 7 Product Key to actually install it - if you try to enter that key during the installation it will balk and tell you it's not a valid Product Key which is why I pointed out that you have to install Windows 10 clean, then when it is installed and online at that point you go to activate it by providing the Windows 7 Product Key - the issue here is that even with the PID file in the Sources folder if it's a Windows 7 key (which can't be used to install Windows 10) then it will more than likely crap out during the installation.

It can't hurt to try, of course, but I have doubts that it'll be successful in this situation.

Just last night I used a Win7 key to install Win10 on a laptop with a blank drive. It did not give me any issues whatsoever.

The newer version that the media creation tool let's you use Win7, Win8/8.1 keys to do a clean Win10 install.
 
Well if that's the case it might work - in my experience so far (using the TH2 release of Windows 10 from earlier this year) it has never accepted a 7/8/8.1 Product Key during the installation process itself so I end up skipping it during the install and then just activating after it's finished and online I'll use the 7/8/8.1 Product Key at that point which it does accept.

The issue for the OP is he has a machine that had Windows 8 on it so it has the Royalty Product Key locked into the BIOS/UEFI itself - it will not prompt him to enter a Product Key during the installation so that's where the issue(s) lay at this point: the PID trick might work but as stated I have my doubts. Guess we'll find out soon enough if the OP gives that PID method a go.
 
:D
 

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All I did was add that text file to the usb drive with my Win 7 Pro key in it, put the text file in the "Sources" folder. Restart and boot off of the usb drive, install Windows, profit :).
 
Excellent, so now we know and since it's posted that's a wrap. :D
 
Follow these steps to upgrade from Windows 10 Home if you have a Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Pro Pack, Windows 8.1 Pro, or Windows 8.1 Pro Pack product key:

  • Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & security > Activation.
  • Select Change product key, and then enter this 25-character default product key:

    VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Important


This default product key will upgrade your device to Windows 10 Pro, but won't activate it.


  • Select Next to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.
  • After your device is upgraded to Windows 10 Pro, you'll need to activate Windows. Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & security > Activation.
  • Select Change product key, and then enter your 25-character Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Pro Pack, Windows 8.1 Pro, or Windows 8.1 Pro Pack product key.
  • Select Next to activate Windows 10 Pro.

From Microsoft: Upgrading Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro
 
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