Solved Windows 11 Home upgrade to Windows Pro

[IvanHG]

I know this problem is not new but there's not much information online and I just wanted to make a good reference for people having the same issue as I had.

For some reason when you buy computer with Windows Home edition it is not actually Windows Home product, it is Windows Core, the easiest way to check that is to run PowerShell command as administrator:

(Get-WindowsEdition -online).edition

 If it says Core then you won't be able to upgrade to Windows Pro using a product key (trust me I tried a multiple methods and each time I was getting an error). So there are 3 methods to upgrade Windows that I am aware of:

1. The most destructive but cleanest method is simply boot from the USB drive with Windows 11 Pro image and install new Windows. It will remove all your data including all apps and documents unless they're backed up. Plus you get to enjoy clean Windows without any manufacture bloatware on it.

2. The easiest way to upgrade is to buy Pro edition in Microsoft Store. This will preserve your files and you don't need to do anything extra. Wouldn't work if you already have a license key.

3. If you do have a license key and you want to preserve your data, you will have to create a bootable usb Drive with Windows on it (install iso from Microsoft website, and use rufus to mount iso to the drive. Note that will remove all data from that usb stick). Then you'll simply open install.exe file from that drive and reinstall Windows within the OS. It will keep your data and reinstall Windows, that could also potentially fix other issues that you had with your system before.

If anyone have had an experience successfully upgrading from Core to Pro without doing all that, please share how you did it here, I'd love to know easier/faster ways to do that.