How to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro – without overpaying

If you buy a brand new PC with Home windows 11 Dwelling preinstalled, you would possibly be capable of get proper to work. However for demanding PC homeowners, this entry-level version does not have some important options, like the flexibility to hook up with a Home windows domain-based community, handle disk encryption, fine-tune replace schedules, or create digital machines. (For an in depth checklist of Professional-only options, see “7 causes Home windows 11 Professional is well worth the improve – and the easiest way to do it.”)

To get these options, you might want to improve to Home windows 11 Professional. That is a reasonably easy course of, however should you’re not cautious, you’ll be able to find yourself spending far more than you might want to on the improve. And you too can end up having to do it once more if you might want to reinstall Home windows.

Additionally: How you can improve your ‘incompatible’ Home windows 10 PC to Home windows 11 in 2025

On this article, I cowl three widespread eventualities for upgrading from Home windows 11 Dwelling version to Professional:

• You are organising a brand new PC that got here with Home windows 11 Dwelling version preinstalled.
• You are doing a clear set up of Home windows 11 Professional on a PC that you just beforehand upgraded.
• After resetting your PC, you might want to restore your Dwelling-to-Professional improve.

Should you’re upgrading a PC for the primary time, you want one important ingredient to get began: a product key.

First issues first: You want a product key

The best approach to improve a PC from Home windows 11 Dwelling to Professional is to make use of a product key.

Should you’ve been constructing, shopping for, and upgrading PCs for some time, it is perhaps value rummaging by your desk drawers, storeroom, or e-mail archives to see should you can find an outdated product key for Home windows 10 Professional or Home windows 11 Professional, even when it is already been used. (Sure, a product key for Home windows 10 can be utilized to activate Home windows 11, and vice-versa.)

One choice that used to work is, alas, not obtainable. Beforehand, you would reuse an outdated product key from Home windows 7 Professional, Home windows 7 Final, or Home windows 8/8.1 Professional to allow an improve from Home windows 10/11 Dwelling to Home windows 10/11 Professional, probably saving you the improve charge. Microsoft closed that loophole in September 2023 when it lastly ended its free Home windows 10 improve program.  

Should you bought a retail copy of Home windows 10 Professional and used it on an outdated PC that is since been retired, you’ll be able to freely reuse the important thing that got here with it. (OEM copies that have been preinstalled on the PC while you purchased it aren’t transferable.) As a substitute, you’ll be able to search for a reduced copy on-line. Microsoft’s retail value for Home windows 11 Professional is $199, however you’ll find a lot greater reductions with out having to look far. I’ve seen discounted copies of Home windows 11 Professional on the market proper right here on ZDNET for $20 or much less. Simply pay attention to the chance related to “grey market” software program.

Additionally: Can you continue to get a Home windows 10 improve free of charge in 2025? Quick reply: Possibly

If you wish to skip the product key fully, you’ll be able to pay Microsoft $99 for an improve instantly from the Microsoft Retailer. A phrase of warning, although: that license is tied to the pc on which you improve and cannot be transferred to a special machine.

You solely want to make use of that product key one time. After you full the improve to Home windows 11 Professional, a digital license is connected to the precise {hardware} you simply upgraded. That digital license lets you reinstall and robotically activate the Professional version on that {hardware} anytime, with out the necessity to discover that product key and re-enter it.

I have been testing improve/activation eventualities on all kinds of {hardware} over time to see how issues work. This is the news.

Situation 1: How you can improve a brand new PC

For instance you purchase a brand new PC with Home windows 11 Dwelling put in by the OEM. Some distributors supply an improve choice as a part of the acquisition, however many PCs offered within the retail channel (Greatest Purchase, Costco, and the like) are preloaded with Dwelling version, for the straightforward purpose that it prices much less.

Additionally: What’s a TPM, and why does Home windows 11 require one?

On this case, the improve takes just some minutes.

Situation 2: How you can reinstall a clear copy of Home windows 11 Professional

After efficiently performing a Dwelling-to-Professional improve, you’ll be able to file that product key away. Your improve is now a digital license, connected to your distinctive {hardware}. 

Should you carry out a reinstallation of Home windows, Microsoft’s activation servers will acknowledge and activate Home windows robotically — I’ve examined the method personally on tons of of bodily and digital programs of programs over time and may affirm it really works. 

1. Begin up from a bootable USB flash drive

To put in a clear copy of Home windows on a PC that already has a digital license for Home windows 10/11 Professional, you might want to boot from a USB flash drive that incorporates the Home windows setup recordsdata. If you see the choice to enter a product key, select “I haven’t got a product key”. (The display screen proven right here is from the Setup program included with Home windows 11 model 24H2; this display screen seems barely completely different should you’re utilizing model 23H2.)

2. Select to put in the Professional version

As a part of the set up course of, Home windows Setup will show a listing of accessible editions. Make sure you select Home windows 11 Professional because the version to put in. Do not select any of the choices whose names finish with the letter N, and do not select Home windows Professional for Workstations.

Additionally: One of the best laptops: Knowledgeable examined and reviewed

Observe all of the prompts to finish the set up and undergo the Out of Field Expertise to register for the primary time on the newly put in working system.

3. Verify the activation standing

After setup is full, register and examine the activation standing (Settings > System > Activation). Assuming you did not make main {hardware} modifications, Microsoft’s servers will acknowledge the {hardware} and it is best to see a discover that the system is activated with a digital license. If the system is not correctly activated, click on Troubleshoot to see should you can resolve the problem. 

Situation 3: How you can restore the Professional version improve after a reinstall 

The one gotcha on this collection of eventualities comes when you’ve got a system that features digital licenses for each Dwelling and Professional editions. This would be the case should you bought a PC with Home windows Dwelling version preinstalled after which upgraded with a Professional product key. 

In that state of affairs, you would possibly inadvertently restore the unique Dwelling version. That has occurred to me a number of occasions through the course of testing Home windows installations and upgrades. Just lately, for instance, I used a restoration picture to reinstall Home windows 11 on a Microsoft Floor Professional that had initially shipped with Home windows 11 Dwelling and had been upgraded to Home windows 11 Professional.

Additionally: How you can display screen document in Home windows 10 or 11

If that occurs to you, do not trouble trying to find the product key you used to improve. 

As a substitute, use Microsoft’s generic Home windows Professional product key to pressure the improve. Observe the steps beneath. 

1. Go to the Activation web page in Settings

Go to Settings > System > Activation and examine the at present put in version and activation standing. Should you see a correctly activated copy of Home windows 11 Dwelling, increase the “Improve your version of Home windows” part and click on “Change product key”. 

2. Enter the generic Home windows Professional product key

Enter the next product key:

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

This generic product secret is supposed particularly to alter editions on PCs which have a correctly activated copy of Home windows 11 Professional. There’s nothing magical about it, and you’ll’t use it to get an improve that you just’re not entitled to. In case your {hardware} does not have already got a Professional license, you may get an activation error and want to produce a correct product key or pay for an improve.

3. Observe the prompts to finish the improve

Observe the prompts and restart to finish the improve.

Since you beforehand upgraded to Professional on this {hardware}, Microsoft’s activation servers will acknowledge the digital license and activate your newly put in copy.

What’s the distinction between Home windows Dwelling and Professional?

The largest distinction between Home windows Dwelling and Professional editions is assist for superior enterprise options. For day-to-day work, there’s little distinction between the 2 editions, which have the identical person interface and handle recordsdata and apps identically.

Home windows Professional version provides the next options that aren’t obtainable with Dwelling version: Area Be part of, Hyper-V, BitLocker, Microsoft Replace for Enterprise, Distant Desktop Server, and Assigned Entry. You’ll find an in depth comparability on this article: “7 causes Home windows 11 Professional is well worth the improve – and the easiest way to do it.”  

Do I want Home windows 11 Professional? 

That relies upon. In order for you the choice to hook up with enterprise networks, or to encrypt all recordsdata on all drives utilizing BitLocker Drive Encryption, then contemplate going Professional. Likewise, the Professional version gives the flexibility to defer month-to-month updates utilizing Group Coverage and contains entry to Hyper-V virtualization and the extremely helpful Home windows Sandbox characteristic. 

Nonetheless, should you’re simply utilizing your PC for routine duties at dwelling or in a small workplace and you do not want these superior options, the Dwelling version ought to be just right for you simply high quality. Make sure you register with a Microsoft account to make sure the system drive is encrypted and the BitLocker Restoration secret is correctly backed as much as the cloud.

What’s a clear set up?

A clear set up removes a earlier software program set up and installs a brand new copy with default settings.  

This text was initially printed on December 23, 2015, and has been up to date many occasions since. It was final up to date January 22, 2025.