Laptop Upgrade Preinstall Win 8 Home to Win 10 Pro

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by mr3dd123, Sep 13, 2015.

  1. mr3dd123

    mr3dd123 MDL Novice

    May 14, 2012
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    Hi,

    Laptop came preinstalled with Win 8.1 Home.
    My initial plan:
    1) Make recovery discs
    2) Wipe
    3) Install W8.1 Pro
    4) Upgrade to W10 Pro
    --> Laptop now has lifetime W10 Pro :)

    BUT
    on step 3, when I tried to boot my W8.1 multiple edition USB, it never gave me the option to enter a serial key, or to choose a version, it automatically selected Home.

    Furthermore, Windows 7 UEFI USB won't boot on the laptop, so now I'm having to:
    1) Install W7 Ultimate in MBR/Legacy Mode
    2) Upgrade to W10 Pro
    3) Wipe/Format disk as GPT
    3) Install W10 Pro in UEFI mode.

    Is there not an easier way?
    TLDR - Trying to go from preinstalled W8.1 Home to W10 Pro. Can't choose to install W8.1 Pro from USB due to (I think) activation details on motherboard.

    Thanks
     
  2. maddog0266

    maddog0266 MDL Expert

    Apr 26, 2011
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    The Problem is the BIOS on your laptop has only Windows 8.1 Home key enbeded.
    You would have to change your BIOS info to reflect Pro.
     
  3. tnx

    tnx MDL Expert

    Sep 2, 2008
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    Never tried this but could you just make the install.wim of you image a pro one.

    I mean export pro from your image then just use that.

    That's what I do anyway but I have never used it on a machine which had pre installed Win 8.1 on..

    It may work but then it may not ?
     
  4. xinso

    xinso MDL Guru

    Mar 5, 2009
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  5. shawnmos

    shawnmos MDL Member

    Oct 27, 2007
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    ^^^Going to try this when I get home. I have been trying for a while to figure out how to get Windows 10 Pro on my laptop.
     
  6. ODY123

    ODY123 MDL Expert

    Apr 20, 2011
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    The easiest way would be using Win Toolkit 2.6 b
    eta 1, install keys for win8.1 prowmc, activate it, then upgrade to win10 pro.
     
  7. odiebugs1

    odiebugs1 MDL Expert

    Jul 30, 2015
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  8. shawnmos

    shawnmos MDL Member

    Oct 27, 2007
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    Not going to happen. All their upgrade software checks for is whether the previous version of windows passed the WGA check. If so then Windows 10 activates. I doubt it could tell the difference between a loader or OEM for example. Even if they could detect it they haven't done anything about it for Win7 and I doubt they will do anything to deactivate anyone's Windows 10 install. I believe they have made Windows 10 free to upgrade and easy to pirate for a reason. They are hoping that people (even the pirates) will spend real money on their windows store.
     
  9. David34

    David34 MDL Member

    Sep 6, 2015
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    Whats the point of installing win 10 pro over home if the only useful thing that you will get is gpedit.msc while you will also get packages you will never use is there a point of it?
     
  10. odiebugs1

    odiebugs1 MDL Expert

    Jul 30, 2015
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    That's why I didn't say win 7 or OEM, because these are the only ones that they system see as legit. All the data that is sent out, all diagnostic data, you're saying they have no clue if you had a KMS system, then used a preview build but weren't a insider, then used a KMS to get pro.

    Some have activated 5 win 10 versions. Can you show us what the data is in a ticket.
     
  11. abbodi1406

    abbodi1406 MDL KB0000001

    Feb 19, 2011
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    So you use all packages in home edition? :rolleyes:
     
  12. David34

    David34 MDL Member

    Sep 6, 2015
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    @odiebugs1 that's what I was saying, the only useful thing in pro over home is gpedit.msc. Rest for an average user like myself aren't useful at all. Remote desktop is usually the first service I remove after installing Windows