I attempted to upgrade equipment to work with Windows 11 Pro

Question

I built a new computer so I can upgrade my windows 10 Pro to windows 11 Pro. But when I installed the hard drive which had windows 10 pro on it the drive would no longer boot. So I used a recovery drive to start up the new computer, but I used the wrong drive and the operating system for my home office computer was loaded to my new PC instead of the windows 10 pro. So now my new PC has windows 11 Home. I want to upgrade to windows 11 Pro as that was the reason for me building the new computer. How can I complete my free upgrade to Windows 11 Pro?

Answer 1

You can use this following method to get Pro installed.

You can go to Settings > System > Activation > Change product key

Disconnect internet, and disable any third party antivirus, 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. Then you still need to activate it.

As for activation, that will depend on what type of Windows 10 Pro license you had originally. Did you purchase it from Microsoft, or third party?

Answer 2

Windows 10 Pro can be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro for free, but Windows 11 Home cannot be “upgraded for free” to Pro. The key point is which license is actually associated with the hardware and Microsoft account.

From the described steps, the new PC is currently running Windows 11 Home because that edition was installed from the other PC’s recovery drive. To complete a free upgrade path to Windows 11 Pro, the device must first be correctly licensed and activated with Windows 10 Pro (or already have a valid Windows 11 Pro license) on that hardware.

Based on the provided information, the supported options are:

1. Use the free upgrade path only from Windows 10 to Windows 11
   • Upgrades from Windows 10 to Windows 11 are free when the device is running a qualifying, activated Windows 10 edition and meets Windows 11 hardware requirements.
   • If the new PC can be correctly set up and activated with Windows 10 Pro (using the original Pro license on this hardware), then it can be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro at no additional cost via Windows Update once eligibility is confirmed.
   • Windows Update in Windows 10 will indicate when the Windows 11 upgrade is ready for installation on eligible hardware.
2. If the device remains on Windows 11 Home
   • There is no free upgrade path from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro documented in the provided material.
   • In that case, upgrading from Home to Pro would require purchasing a Pro license (for example, via Microsoft Store) similar to how Windows 10/11 Home devices are upgraded to Pro.
3. Confirming eligibility and performing the Windows 11 upgrade
   • Ensure the PC meets the Windows 11 minimum system requirements (CPU, RAM, storage, TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, etc.).
   • On a Windows 10 Pro installation (once correctly installed and activated on the new PC), go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and select Check for updates. If eligible, Windows Update will offer the free upgrade to Windows 11.

If the goal is specifically a free upgrade to Windows 11 Pro, the supported path is:

1. Correctly install and activate Windows 10 Pro on the new PC using the valid Pro license.
2. Once activated and hardware-eligible, use Windows Update to upgrade that Windows 10 Pro installation to Windows 11 Pro at no additional cost.

If Windows 10 Pro cannot be restored and activated on the new hardware, the remaining documented option is to purchase Windows 11 Pro (or a Pro upgrade) for that device.

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References:

• Upgrade to Windows 11: FAQ
• What does it mean if Windows isn't supported?
• Making the transition to a new era of computing
• Windows in education
• Upgrade Windows devices to Windows 10 or 11 Pro