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Switch from your version of Windows 11 Home to a professional version in seconds, without going through the reinstallation box.
Your computer is running Windows 11 Home and you would like to upgrade to a Professional version? The process of switching from one version to another is not nearly as complex as you might imagine. It is indeed not necessary to go through the reinstallation box to switch from a Family version to a Pro version of Windows 11.
You really only need a license number of a professional version of Windows. And, icing on the cake, this license number does not necessarily have to be that of a version of Windows 11. Microsoft always agrees to validate Windows 11 Pro with the licenses of older versions of Windows. We were able, on our machine under Windows 11 Home, to switch to Windows 11 Professional with a license of Windows… 7 Pro.
So you can potentially use a license number from an older machine running Windows 7 Pro, Windows 8/8.1 Pro or Windows 10 Pro to upgrade your Windows 11 Home machine to Windows 11 Pro for free. So don’t hesitate to make your drawer funds to recycle your old unused Windows licenses.
1. Open Settings
Start by opening Windows Settings using the keyboard shortcut Windows + i. In the Settings window, open by default on the System section, enter the System information menu.
2. Access the product key
Go down to the System Information page, and click on the Product Key and Activation menu.
3. Change the product key
In the window that appears, enter the menu Upgrade your edition of Windows.
Then click on the Change button displayed on the Change product key line.
4. Enter the new product key
In the Enter a product key window, enter the Windows 11 Pro product key you have and click the Next button.
The next window should prompt you to Upgrade your edition of Windows. Then click on the Start button.
Wait a few minutes while Windows 11 downloads the necessary elements to convert your version of Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Professional.
Once the process is complete, your machine should reboot and display a tooltip indicating that the migration was successful.
You can check this for yourself by going to Settings > System > Activation where the activation status of your version of Windows 11 Professional should be displayed.