Windows 10 Upgrade to Pro - Purchasing Issues

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Paul1977

5043 posts

Uber Geek

#2733513 24-Jun-2021 09:11

noroad:

Works just fine for me, from the bios boot to USB, delete all partitions and install as per normal no problem at all.

Exactly what I did - twice. Second time with no Internet connection.

noroad

949 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2733514 24-Jun-2021 09:14

Paul1977:

Exactly what I did - twice. Second time with no Internet connection.

Odd, I've used this method several times on Surface devices (Pro/Laptop) and never had an issue.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#2733533 24-Jun-2021 09:41

Paul1977:

I can confirm that OEM DID NOT work on Surface Pro 7. Not sure how @noroad had success. Even installing from the supplied media with no Internet connection it would immediately show as Windows Home activated. Attempting to change the key would come back as it being invalid.

some options for next time , if you dont want to(or cant) pay for Full retail Pro

You may need to prevent the installer from using the bios embedded key.
You can force the installer to use the Pro key , by adding a PID.txt with the Pro key to the install USB

Some suggestions here (some may be outdated)
https://superuser.com/questions/1020961/prevent-windows-10-installer-from-using-the-preinstalled-serial-key-without-disa

One comment was that upgrading from Home to Pro (by changing the key) didnt install all the Pro components (a Win reset fixed that)

Paul1977

5043 posts

Uber Geek

#2733632 24-Jun-2021 10:58

1101:

some options for next time , if you dont want to(or cant) pay for Full retail Pro

You may need to prevent the installer from using the bios embedded key.
You can force the installer to use the Pro key , by adding a PID.txt with the Pro key to the install USB

Some suggestions here (some may be outdated)
https://superuser.com/questions/1020961/prevent-windows-10-installer-from-using-the-preinstalled-serial-key-without-disa

One comment was that upgrading from Home to Pro (by changing the key) didnt install all the Pro components (a Win reset fixed that)

Thanks. It wasn't worth my time to muck around anymore than I had. And since I think using OEM in this scenario is very possibly against the EULA anyway I'm much happier using the full retail key.

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