Convert Windows 10 Home Edition into Pro Without Reinstalling

If you have a product key (license key) of Windows 10 Pro edition but you mistakenly installed Windows 10 Home edition in your computer, you can convert the installed Home edition into Pro edition without formatting and reinstalling Windows with the help of this tutorial.

Recently I installed the latest Windows 10 version in one of my computers. The machine was having Windows 10 Professional edition previously. I downloaded the offline ISO file of Windows 10 (using this article), copied it to bootable USB drive (how-to guide) and installed Windows 10 new version in the computer. The setup didn't ask to select Windows 10 edition. It also didn't ask to enter any product key at installation time.

When Windows 10 was installed, I checked the activation status using Settings -> Update & Security -> Activation page and I was surprised to see that it was showing "Windows 10 Home Single Language" edition installed in the computer. It should have installed Windows 10 Pro edition as the machine was having the same edition before format and reinstallation.





Why did it happen?
Actually when I purchased this computer, it came preinstalled with Windows 10 Home Single Language edition. When I started using it and connected to Internet, it was activated successfully and the activation status was saved or stored at Microsoft servers as a digital license (previously called digital entitlement). Now when I reinstalled latest version of Windows 10, it automatically activated itself using the saved digital license at Microsoft servers which was connected with Windows 10 Home Single Language edition.

I'm sure many people face this problem several times. Even if they have a genuine product key or license key of Windows 10 Pro edition, the Windows 10 setup doesn't allow them to select or install Pro edition. The installer automatically installs Windows 10 Home edition without their permission.

Bonus Tip: A few years back, when Windows 10 was released first time for public, I posted a tutorial to force Windows 10 setup to choose the edition type at installation time.

In future, if you decide to install your desired Windows 10 edition in any computer and want to force Windows 10 setup to allow you to choose the edition at installation time, you can follow the trick mentioned in above article.

Let's come back to the issue! Windows 10 forcefully installed Home edition in my computer and now I wanted to convert it into Pro edition as I already had a product key of Pro edition.
To do this, I needed to format and reinstall Windows 10 and then follow the above mentioned trick to choose Pro edition at installation time.

But I didn't want to format and reinstall Windows in my computer. So I used a built-in mechanism present in Windows 10 which allows users to upgrade lower Windows 10 editions to higher editions such as Pro edition.

If you also installed Windows 10 Home edition in your computer by mistake or if the setup didn't allow you to select Pro edition at installation time or your new computer came preinstalled with Windows 10 Home edition and now you want to convert it into Windows 10 Pro edition without formatting and reinstalling Windows in your computer, following steps will help you.

Just check out following easy steps to change your Windows 10 Home edition in Windows 10 Pro edition quickly and easily without any need of reinstallation:


1. Open Settings app from Start Menu or by pressing WIN+I keys together.
2. Now go to Update & Security -> Activation section.


PS: Alternatively, You can directly launch this page using "ms-settings:activation" command in RUN dialog box as mentioned here.


Here you'll see the installed edition type as "Windows 10 Home Single Language" or any other lower edition of Windows 10.





3. Look for "Upgrade your edition of Windows" section. It contains following information:

Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro to add features that help you connect to company networks, access once PC from another, encrypt your data and more.

It provides 2 links:

• Go to the Store
• Change product key

"Go to the Store" link can be used to purchase Windows 10 Pro edition license from official Microsoft Store which we are not going to use as we already have a genuine license key of Windows 10 Pro edition. If you don't have Windows 10 Pro edition license, you can follow the link to buy a license of Windows 10 Pro edition.
The second link "Change product key" will help us. Click on the link and Windows will ask to enter product key of Windows 10 Pro edition.





4. Once you enter correct and genuine product key of Windows 10 Pro edition, click on Next button and Windows 10 will connect to Microsoft servers to check and validate/authenticate the product key.
If the entered product key is genuine, you'll see following screen:

Upgrade your edition of Windows
Upgrading your edition will add new features to Windows. Before you start, make sure to save your work and close any apps.
The upgrade might take a while and this device will restart. You won't be able to use this device until it's done.
[Start] [Cancel]

5. Click on "Start" button and Windows 10 will start the upgrade process. It'll show "Preparing for upgrade" message and you'll see the progress percentage.
Windows will restart your computer and you'll get "Adding features" screen.
Windows will again restart your computer. After restart, you'll get "Getting Windows ready" screen.
That's it. Once the upgrade process completes and you sign into your account, check Windows activation status again and now it'll show "Windows 10 Pro" edition installed in your system as shown in following screenshot:





Congratulations! You have successfully converted Windows 10 Home edition into Pro edition without reinstalling Windows in your computer.