Upgraded Windows 10 Pro activation after replacing processor and motherboard

[HelpAsNeeded]

I upgraded a Pavilion P6 to W10 Pro in September. All was fine until the motherboard and processor failed. When I replaced the hardware I am asked to activate Windows -- I have the product key from the desktop box for Windows 7 Home Prem OA which isn't working for W10 Pro. I don't know how W10 Pro had been running six months and MS support insists that I roll back to W10. Two questions.

1. how does W10 differ from W10 Pro?
2. how is that W10 Pro could have been upgraded from Windows 7 Home Prem OA? Seems like a bait and switch on the OS.

[Jay_101 · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

The motherboard/CPU replacement could be an additional monkey wrench in this situation.

You can't use a Win 7 Home key on Win 10 Pro.

You will have to install Win 10 and then upgrade to Win 10 Pro. Win 10 will upgrade to Win 10 P if you had an activated copy of Win 10 Pro.

1. Additional features such as BitLocker and domain join.

2. I have no idea how you upgraded from Win 7 Home to Win 10 Pro. Were you a BETA tester (Windows Insider Program)? I upgraded from Win 7 H to Win 10 Pro because I was a BETA tester,

I just did a clean install of Win 10 Pro but skipped the product key input. Windows activated, but not immediately.

The Beatles: "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey"

Cheers

[HelpAsNeeded]

I actually inherited this machine from my father so I went back to my brother, who had been maintaining the machine, and learned that he had upgraded it to 7 Pro, so the upgrade to Windows 10 Pro was the default. Fortunately, he was able to find the 7 Pro product key so I was able to (re)activate 10 Pro!

Thanks.

PS: I now have another problem -- Pavilion display stuck at 640x480 after motherboard & processor replacement -- which I'll post separately.

[Jay_101]

Hi,

Your probably using a generic Windows graphics driver.

The driver will be on the motherboard driver disc if you're using integrated graphics.

The discrete graphics driver would be on the graphics card driver disc included with the graphics card or you can download the driver at Nvidia or AMD.

Cheers!

[HelpAsNeeded]

Yes -- I downloaded drivers from AMD but still have trouble, which I detail at a new message: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Can-t-change-Pavilion-display-re...