• ×
    Information
    Windows update impacting certain printer icons and names. Microsoft is working on a solution.
    Click here to learn more
    Information
    Need Windows 11 help?
    Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
    Windows 11 Support Center.
  • post a message
  • ×
    Information
    Windows update impacting certain printer icons and names. Microsoft is working on a solution.
    Click here to learn more
    Information
    Need Windows 11 help?
    Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
    Windows 11 Support Center.
  • post a message
Guidelines
Any failures related to Hotkey UWP service? Click here for tips.
Check out our WINDOWS 11 Support Center info about: OPTIMIZATION, KNOWN ISSUES, FAQs, VIDEOS AND MORE.
HP Recommended
Spectre x360 13t
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

My question should apply to all upgrades from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro. My question is:

Does upgrading from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro invalidate the HP Factory Recovery Partition and/or any Acronis recovery images. I ask this question due to information given me by Banien (Thanks) about the product key being rewritten in BIOS to reflect the “new” OS. Theoretically this product key change would invalidate either HP Recovery partition and/or Acronis recovery images unless those recovery options rewrite the BIOS Product Key, or there is some validation link common to both Product keys. All help would be appreciated. Thanks

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

Hi:

 

When you upgrade from Home to Pro, the original W10 product key remains in the BIOS.

 

It is not overwritten when you install W10 Pro.

 

What happens is you get a digital license for W10 Pro.

 

If you were to factory reset the PC using the recovery system, you will end up with W10 Home.

 

If you have already upgraded to W10 Pro, run the free utility that I zipped up and attached below that will show you what I am referring to.

 

You will get a report that looks something like this...I have removed my specific product key info

 

ShowKeyPlus - Windows Product Key Information

 

Product Name: Windows 10 Pro

 

Version: 18362.657 (64-bit OS)

 

Product ID: 00XX0-X0000-00000-XXXXX

 

Installed Key: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

 

OEM Key: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

 

OEM Edition: Win 8.1 RTM Professional OEM:DM

 

What will be different in your report is the last item.

 

Yours will be Win 10 RTM Home OEM:DM

View solution in original post

7 REPLIES 7
HP Recommended

Hi:

 

When you upgrade from Home to Pro, the original W10 product key remains in the BIOS.

 

It is not overwritten when you install W10 Pro.

 

What happens is you get a digital license for W10 Pro.

 

If you were to factory reset the PC using the recovery system, you will end up with W10 Home.

 

If you have already upgraded to W10 Pro, run the free utility that I zipped up and attached below that will show you what I am referring to.

 

You will get a report that looks something like this...I have removed my specific product key info

 

ShowKeyPlus - Windows Product Key Information

 

Product Name: Windows 10 Pro

 

Version: 18362.657 (64-bit OS)

 

Product ID: 00XX0-X0000-00000-XXXXX

 

Installed Key: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

 

OEM Key: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

 

OEM Edition: Win 8.1 RTM Professional OEM:DM

 

What will be different in your report is the last item.

 

Yours will be Win 10 RTM Home OEM:DM

HP Recommended

Thanks so much for the reply. I have not upgraded yet and I’m researching everything I can find before I do. I definitely don’t want to do anything that I can’t recover from. Banhien advised me that the upgrade process rewrites product key in BIOS. I may be confused on the terminology of the exact change of BIOS information, and I am VERY open to being educated on this. My knowledge on BIOS based validation processes is very limited. The recovery options that I depend on are; HP Recovery Partition and Acronis True Image backup images. Would either of these options be compromised by the upgrade? Also, is there any reason in your opinion, other than cost, that should give me pause concerning this upgrade. I have a HP Spectre x360 13T/ Win10 Home/ Intel i7 1065G7/ 1TB SSD/16GB Ram, just in case this information  is relevant.
Your patience and assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

As I posted earlier and showed you my report, the OEM product key in the BIOS is not overwritten or replaced by the W10 Pro product key.

 

An additional key will be provided as a result of the upgrade and that will reside on the hard drive, not the BIOS.

 

Your HP Recovery partition will work, but if you use it to factory reset the PC, you will get the original 'out of the box' configuration, which would be W10 Home.

 

I don't know anything about 3rd party imaging software other than Macrium Reflect which I use.

 

I would assume that after you upgrade to W10 pro, you will want to make a new Acronis image reflecting the upgrade.

 

If you were to use your existing Acronis image, it would restore your current configuration (W10 Home).

 

If you need W10 Pro for a specific reason, it is easy enough to do and have no reason to believe that it will cause any issues with your notebook.

 

Read the info on how to upgrade to W10 Pro below...you cannot clean install W10 Pro because the W10 Home product key in the BIOS will always trump the retail key, and you will always get W10 Home as the clean install.

 

Scroll toward the bottom of the page, and look at these two options...should be very easy to do.

 

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12384/windows-10-upgrading-home-to-pro

HP Recommended

By the way, unrelated to the original post, I see that you are running Win8.1. Are you using a shell program? I have a Dell XPS 8700 that is still a powerful machine. I have Win7 Pro and am still cautiously using it for audio editing, but I know that its days are numbered. I have a Dell OEM Win8.1 installation disk that came with the machine and have been thinking about installing on a new, clean EVO SSD and continuing to use the XPS for another 2.5 years. I’m not crazy about Win10 and its nuances and only upgraded my Win7 Pavilion laptop because it was becoming a very slow and obsolete security risk. Again, thanks for your patience and assistance.

HP Recommended

Hi:

 

I am running W10 Pro that I had upgraded a Dell Optiplex 7020 business-class PC to.

 

That is why you saw the W8.1 product key in the showkey plus report.

 

That is the original OEM product key in the BIOS which I was using to show you that the original product key does not get wiped out when you upgrade.

 

What I would do would be to upgrade the XPS W7 PC to W10 now, install the SSD, and then clean install W10 on the SSD.

 

You should still be able to get the upgrade for free by reading the info at the link below.

 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

 

Your XPS PC is supported by Dell for W10.

 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-8700/drivers

 

 

HP Recommended

Just to give you an update, I upgraded from Home to Pro this morning after getting comfortable per your input and also assurance from HP Support and MS Support that my recovery partition would not be violated. HP Support also let me know that if everything really messed up, then I could restore via Cloud Restore. Short of an actual reset of the computer,  do you know of a way to check the Recovery Partition to see if it is valid? Thank you so much for your assistance wit this issue. 

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

There would be to way to check if the recovery partition works other than by attempting to perform an actual factory reset.

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.