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So, the historical events happened as follows:
I bought a laptop which had Windows 10 Home from the get-go.
I immediately upgraded it to Win 10 Pro by buying the license from the store.A couple years later the Windows was upgraded to Win 11 Pro
Now I bought a new laptop, installed a fresh Win 11 Pro (but not activated yet) and I want to transfer the license over from my previous laptop.
However, the troubleshooter can't trace the 10 Home -> 10 Pro -> 11 Pro upgrade history and just refuses to see an available license, though it was bought from the store and should be eligible for the transfer.
I wanted to contact a support about this, but the website only gave me very generic advice to use troubleshooter, which didn't work, and then referred me to the starting page.
Answer accepted by question author
Hello
Did you purchase the Pro Upgrade license or the full license?
If you are not sure, check your order history and see how much you paid. An upgrade license is around half of the full license price.
If it is indeed an upgrade license, you can only use it to upgrade from an "already-activated" home edition. You cannot use it to activate a clean install of Pro.
Let me know what you find out first, so we can sort this out.
Hey, thanks for the reply.
I checked the history, the item says "Windows 10/11 Pro"
Not sure what to make out of it. The price I paid then seems like half the price of a pro license now, with a nuance that
May I ask the price you paid then, including what currency?
Total 3 799,00 ₴ (Ukrainian Hryvnia)
Payment took place on December 15, 2022
Thank you.
So, I used this resource: https://www.exchange-rates.org/exchange-rate-history/uah-usd-2022
On Dec 15th 2022, exchange rate was 1 UAH = 0.02720 USD
Based on that, I am afraid you had the upgrade license, not full license.
Does the new computer come with Home OEM license, or did you buy it without OS?
New laptop came with no OS, I used an installation media from Microsoft to create a bootable USB drive and installed fresh Win 11 pro.
So I guess my options now are either 1) reinstall to Home, buy a home license and then transfer the upgrade to Pro, or 2) buy a new full Pro license for this laptop?
Your understanding is correct.
Either of those options can work.
If you go with option 1, after Home is installed and activated, you need to do the following:
You can go to Settings > System > Activation > Change product key
Disconnect the internet and key in the generic key instead: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
That should get you to Pro. Once restarted, you can connect back to the internet and sign into your Microsoft account.
Then, go to Settings > System > Activation, run the troubleshooter, and choose the hardware change option. When it asks you where it is installed right now, you should choose the old device name. Then click on the Activate button. And on the next screen when it asks you where to transfer it to, choose your new device name. That would transfer the upgrade Pro license to the new device.
Thanks for quick responses and confirming the issue.
I think I'll just buy a fresh full pro license to save some time and effort.
Have a great day.
You are welcome.
Keep the old device listing in your Microsoft account. Don't remove it.
Your Pro upgrade portion is still transferrable and it won't expire. By keeping the old device in your account, when you are going to transfer it one day, it will still work, and it relies on recognizing the old license's record on the old device.
Have a great day as well.
