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Microsoft recently released a free Windows 10 Pro product key. Confused as to what it does and how you can take advantage of it? Then this post is for you.
If you’re running version 1511 of Windows 10 Home
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on a PC, the freely available product key (VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T) allows you to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. It does not give you a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. It just unlocks the Pro edition and initiates the system upgrade from Home to Pro.
You’ll still need to activate the Pro edition by purchasing a license from the Windows store
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. Until you do this, you’ll face some limitations like unavailable features, grayed out settings, and watermarks.
The good news is that if you have a product key for the Pro edition of previous Windows versions, say Windows 7 or Windows 8, that same key can also take you from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro. In this case, the upgrade is free and saves you about a hundred dollars.
Note that you’ll need to have the November Update (version 1511) of Windows 10 Home installed for the public product key to work. And here’s where you can change the key: Settings > Update & security > Activation > Change product key.
The Windows 10 Pro edition gives you extra features like Bitlocker Drive Encryption and finer control over Windows Update. Don’t be discouraged if the upgrade takes quite a bit of time. That’s to be expected.
Have you used the free product key released by Microsoft? Did it work for you? Tell us in the comments.
Image Credit: tanuha2001 / Shutterstock.com
Explore more about: Windows 10.
Windows 10 disable some games for free users, You just need to activate your Windows 10 OS to get its all features to run all types of Games. I'll recommend you to buy cheap product key from ODosta Store, Which is legit site.
Gordon Hay, you have a lot of patience, and in this case it's needed. ;-)
Guys an' galls, read the following very slowly and carefully!
The article above is only for those that have Windows 10 home edition.
The problem is you can't activate a Windows 10 home with a Windows 7 or 8 pro key. It will NOT upgrade the 10 home to 10 pro.
The above key does NOT activate Windows!
The purpose of the key given here is just to upgrade your windows 10 home installation to pro so you can activate it with your valid Windows 7 or 8 key.
Happy computing to all of you!
If I have windows 10 home already installed, does it reinstall it again if I upgrade to pro?
The MUO TITLE for this article needs 6 more words added to it after the final word 'Pro' ........ and they are:
"THAT ALLOWS YOU TO BUY IT"!!
Just sayin' ... you know?
New year resolution for makeuseof : Quality control, Quality control, Quality control...
Just only have a try, works like a charm!
# plus.google.com/u/0/112109591609784503202
I already used this key to fresh install a windows 10 pro. You still need to have a valid product key I think because the default key is only valid for a certain number of days (i forgot)
More and more Muo titles have clickbait-styled titles. I trusted this article's title and also this website so much I was simply a 'paste' away from changing my product key. Thank goodness I read the full article. Muo, your recent clickbait styled titles and also short and rather pointless articles are making me lose my trust in it.
This key is primarily for anyone who wants/has to do a clean install of Windows 10 using a bootable USB drive created with the Windows media creation tool. Because of the new device-specific way that W 10 is activated installing direct from a bootable drive gets you the Home version only, you then upgrade to Pro using the default key and activate it with your 7/8/8.1/10 Pro licence key.
If you already have a Pro version of Windows on your machine and want to install 10 Pro in a single step you must start the install by opening the setup.exe file on the USB drive from File Explorer and you will get the option of Home or Pro versions.
Yup, can confirm, did this this afternoon. Media tool installed W10 home on a machine that had W10 Pro, W8.1 key didn't work, found this key. I now have pro with no issues, watermarks or store prompts. Nice of MS to not make me reinstall at least
If this doesn't activate Windows 10 Pro what's the point? Was this just clickbait?
I have to admit I am not seeing the "free" here either. If you already have the pro version of win 7 or 8 you get the pro version of win 10 so the key is not needed.
If you are on the home version and use this key then you still have to purchase the pro upgrade before the functions unlock. How is that free?
Yes, this. ^
Searching Google with that product key indicates this key has been out since the summer.
If this doesn't activate Pro, then I don't understand the point. I can "upgrade" from Home to Pro, but it doesn't activate it.
Going from a Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro may take a little bit longer, but it does work and Windows 10 Pro is activated.. Just pasting that key in the "change product key" box only gives you Windows 10 Pro that isn't activated.
You're still required to go to the store and purchase Windows 10 Pro. I'm just not seeing how useful this is.
Here's a question, let's assume someone uses the key and "upgrades" from Home to Pro. They find out the key doesn't activate Pro...how do they go back to the Home version? Do they have to reinstall from scratch?
I have Home on mine (new laptop that came with Home), but when I upgrade my SSD to a higher GB, I'm going to install Win 7 Pro and upgrade to 10 from there.
If you use the default key you don't need to install 7 Pro first, just install 10 Home, use the default key to upgrade to 10 Pro, then insert your 7 Pro key to activate it.
That doesn't work. At least it didn't work on the other laptop I used to test. The device wan't entitled to Windows Pro and using a valid Win 7 Pro key to "upgrade" returns an error saying it's the wrong key.
I may do another fresh install from the media creation disk I made and just start from scratch and see if that works. I tried things from an already installed version of Windows 10 Home.
Just to be clear, you use the default key given in the article above to "upgrade" from W 10 Home to Pro, then use your 7 Pro key to "activate" it. One circumstance in which a Pro key for 7/8/8.1 might not work (probably won't) is if it was purchased as an "upgrade/added feature" to an OEM installed Home version of Windows.
I tried it again, downloaded the newest Windows 10 Media Creations Tool to a newly formatted USB drive, installed Windows 10 Home using custom install and deleting all the other partitions, loaded Windows 10 Home, used the key in the article to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro then attempted to use one of the many Windows 7 Pro license keys I have to activate Windows 10 Pro and none of them worked.
The Win 7 Pro keys I used are from old laptops that had Win 7 Pro but the laptops have died, so they are not upgrade keys.
This default key method of upgrading to 10 Pro is intended for use with a previosly purchased key or one for an earlier version of Pro previously installed on the machine you want to upgrade - this was what I thought you were trying to do and I offered advice on that basis. I'm sorry if you took this advice to mean that any Pro key would work - a key for another machine which came with an OEM installed Pro version is not valid for use on a different machine in this specific way
As far as I know the only key not previosly associated with the machine you want to upgrade that would work is one for a legally-purchased installation disc for an older Pro version of Windows which has not "used up" all the permitted number of installs.
You could try phoning MS support to see if you can persuade the agent or supervisor to validate one of your old keys for use on your current device.
There is a MS Community Wiki article on the subject of W 10 activation - I haven't read all the comments but you might find something useful there -
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-troubleshoot-product-activation-in-windows/33f31475-93b3-4d1c-812f-4b21fbd807a7
Good luck!