How to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to 11 Pro… with a Windows 7 Pro license and without reinstallation

Switch from your version of Windows 11 Home to a professional version in seconds, without going through the reinstallation box.

Your computer is running Windows 11 Home and you would like to upgrade to a Professional version? The process of switching from one version to another is not nearly as complex as you might imagine. It is indeed not necessary to go through the reinstallation box to switch from a Family version to a Pro version of Windows 11.

You really only need a license number of a professional version of Windows. And, icing on the cake, this license number does not necessarily have to be that of a version of Windows 11. Microsoft always agrees to validate Windows 11 Pro with the licenses of older versions of Windows. We were able, on our machine under Windows 11 Home, to switch to Windows 11 Professional with a license of Windows… 7 Pro.

So you can potentially use a license number from an older machine running Windows 7 Pro, Windows 8/8.1 Pro or Windows 10 Pro to upgrade your Windows 11 Home machine to Windows 11 Pro for free. So don’t hesitate to make your drawer funds to recycle your old unused Windows licenses.

1. Open Settings

Start by opening Windows Settings using the keyboard shortcut Windows+i. In the window of Settingsopen by default on the section Systementer the menu System information.

2. Access the product key

Go down the page of System informatione, and click on the menu Product key and activation.

3. Change the product key

In the window that appears, enter the menu Upgrade your edition of Windows.

Then click on the button Edit displayed on line Change product key.

4. Enter the new product key

In the window Enter a product keyenter the Windows 11 Pro product key that you have in your possession and click on the button Next.

The next window should prompt you to Upgrade your edition of Windows. Then click on the button To start up.

Wait a few minutes while Windows 11 downloads the necessary components to convert your version of Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Professional.

Once the process is complete, your machine should reboot and display a tooltip indicating that the migration was successful.

You can check it for yourself by going to the Settings > System > Activation where the activation status of your version of Windows 11 Professional should be displayed.