Windows 10 Home product key

AndyMoody · 23 Dec 2015 at 16:22

I recently found out that the person who installed my Windows 7 Ultimate OS hadn't used a genuine copy, I had the on screen message appear a week or so back. I return from a few days away last week and have the free W10 update download info.

I know it won't activate due to the W7 issue. I install W10 and it goes to the Pro version as I had W7 Ultimate. I only really need W10 Home and a product key to activate it.

I know that using a Home key won't work with what I've already got installed. Can I buy or download W10 Home and use the key that comes with that somehow without losing files, or have I got the bite the bullet and buy Pro Retail version which is considerably more?

Orcvader · 23 Dec 2015 at 17:45

You may find Windows 10 will activate, basically giving you a free OEM copy of 10 pro. That was the case with a friend who... didn't exactly have a legal 7 copy. Even did a clean install afterwards with the ISO and after connecting to the internet it automatically recognised the hardware and activated automatically.

Not sure you can downgrade from Pro to Home, even if you have a home key.

Confused Stu · 24 Dec 2015 at 01:04

Orcvader said:
You may find Windows 10 will activate, basically giving you a free OEM copy of 10 pro. That was the case with a friend who... didn't exactly have a legal 7 copy. Even did a clean install afterwards with the ISO and after connecting to the internet it automatically recognised the hardware and activated automatically.

Not sure you can downgrade from Pro to Home, even if you have a home key.

Unfortunately, Windows 10 will only activate if the PC has been upgraded from an activated Windows 7/8.1 install (even if it was activated by dodgy means) and it sounds like the OP has already lost activation so that won't work in this case.

OP - I don't think you can downgrade from Pro to Home either (happy to be proven wrong) so the only way you're going to get a legit Windows 10 is to buy a copy of 10 Pro and activate the install you currently have, or buy a 10 Home and go for a fresh install. Remember with the new 1511 build, you can use a Windows 7 or 8/8.1 key to activate Windows 10, if you have any of those to hand/available/cheaper.

AndyMoody · 29 Dec 2015 at 17:19

So if I obtain a Windows 8.1 Pro key, this will activate my Windows 10 Pro and it's a lot cheaper ? :-)

Confused Stu · 29 Dec 2015 at 17:26

AndyMoody said:
So if I obtain a Windows 8.1 Pro key, this will activate my Windows 10 Pro and it's a lot cheaper ?

Yes, provided you're on the latest 1511 build of Windows 10. However, be very careful where you buy your Windows 8.1 Pro key from. If it's too cheap then it's quite likely one they'll sell onto multiple people which means everyone's Windows gets activated but then Microsoft notices and blacklists the key, which you'll only find out about later when you come to reinstall Windows or update your hardware and reactive. This happened to me with a £25 key from G2A - activated fine but when I came to reinstall Windows 3 months later after a motherboard change I found the key had been blocked and I'd wasted £25.

Good luck mate.