Making clean Windows 10 re-install to input new Product Key

[GetFaster]

So, the OMEN laptop I bought came with pre-installed Win10 Home OEM digital licence. I bought a second-hand Win10 Pro licence which usually needs phone activation to work. To get phone activation, I need de-activated Win10, otherwise there's only the option to Change Product Key which just tells me the key has already been used on a different device.

I tried re-installing the OS but the OEM digital licence is auto-activated every time regardless of what I do (sans reformatting the entire drive I guess).

Is there a way to detach the digital licence from the OS, is it reversible in case something goes wrong (what possibly could), and does it have an effect on warranty?

Secondary question regarding recovery, let me know if I should make another thread for this.

Is there a way to reset the laptop to the state I bought it in (pre-installed drivers and HP tools)?

From what I found, the HP Recovery Manager that supposedly allows various customizations of the recovery process doesn't seem to be pre-installed on this laptop. I tried downloading it from the Software and Drivers page but I didn't notice any new options after installing it. The only option is Windows factory reset which gives me pristine Win10 with nothing else.

The recovery partitions seem redundant like this, since I can achieve the same thing by just using the media creation tool from Microsoft.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

See if this video is of help to you regarding deactivating the W10 Home key in the BIOS...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zecDkneQ4K4

As far as how do you get it to reappear...he has a video for that too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCLUZWKLwb4

If tapping the F11 key at the beginning of the HP welcome screen does not launch the factory reset options, then you will have to order recovery media from HP.

And yes, you can always reinstall W10 at any time by using the media creation tool, but that is not the same as a factory reset.

[David_J_W]

It may well be that the licence you bought is entirely above board, @GetFaster; retail licences of Windows 10 Pro certainly exist, though Windows 10 Pro is perhaps more commonly sold as an OEM product or is installed via a volume licence. I'm always a little cautious about buying second hand licences that exist as a product key, because there is nothing stopping the seller retaining a copy of that key and attempting to use it in the future after you have paid.

Paul has already given you some great advice and I hope you soon have your licence activated.

I replied mainly to point out that possibly the easiest way of upgrading to Windows 10 Pro is to buy an edition upgrade for the OEM licence in the Microsoft Store if that option exists in your country - just open the Microsoft Store app and search for "Windows 10 Pro". If you want, you can upgrade to "Windows 10 Pro for Workstations" this way, too - not that that expensive upgrade has any value to most users. Indeed, unless you want Bitlocker, the ability to join a Windows domain and/or Azure Active Directory support, Windows 10 Pro is normally a waste of money.

Most copies of Windows 10 Pro for Workstations I have come across are OEM installed on systems with Xeon processors. Most of these Xeon systems are comfortably within the hardware limits of regular Windows 10 Pro, but it seems there is some sort of agreement between the OEMs and Microsoft that Xeon systems must have Pro for Workstations installed.

[GetFaster]

@Paul_Tikkanen: Thanks for the answer, I'll see if I can get it working this way. 🙂

One more thing though, ProduKey found two licences, Windows 10 Home, and Windows (BIOS OEM Key). I assume the first is the one I want to de-activate. Is the second one the persistent licence that kept Windows Home activated between installations?

As for F11, it does work, but only offers Return to previous version (originally Win8/8.1?), Recovery from restore point, Recovery from bit copy, and Factory reset. Factory reset can keep personal files intact but removes everything including drivers and HP utilities, so I fail to see the difference between it and Media Creation Tool in terms of the final result.

I also don't see the point of the RECOVERY and Windows RE Tools partitions. All the tools provided are part of Win10 and don't seem to actually use them. They may have been just left behind after the update to Win10.

Ggiven it was likely upgraded from Win8/8.1 it's a shame HP only offers drivers for Win10, I'd gladly revert back to Win8.1 if they had drivers for it. I know I probably could anyway, but I'd have to use generic drivers, and if anything went wrong HP would just say I should've used their drivers and whatnot.

@David_J_W: One of the reasons I wanted Win10 Pro was better control over updates. Though I'm not sure it still applies, last time I checked what shortly after Win10 released. Besides the option to defer updates there should be an option to uninstall and block problematic/unwanted updates. I could display update history on the Home version, but there was no way to actually uninstall them.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The product specs for your notebook indicate that it came from HP with W10 Home.

https://support.hp.com/rs-en/document/c05565670

So W10 Home would be the product key in the BIOS.  Not sure why it is showing two keys.

Anyway, if you watch the video, and run the command to deactivate the installation, you can see if you can then enter the Pro key.

The W10 Home key in the BIOS is what keeps making the installation W10 Home.

Until you can find a way to change it, it will remain that way for eternity.