Two Quick Steps to Upgrade Windows Home to Windows Pro with a cheap license

last updated 7 Aug 2026

Step 1: Purchase a low cost Windows license from here.. Apparantly, the ‘Retail’ key is more reliable than the ‘OEM’ version of the key.

Step 2: On the machine to be upgraded, start Command Prompt with admin privileges. Run this: changepk.exe /productkey VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T. This will require you to reboot the machine and install the files necessary to get you into Professional license. If you are not going to buy a license and are okay without activation, you can use it. But if you bought a license go to the next step.

Step 3: On the machine that has been upgraded, start Command Prompt with admin privileges. Run this: changepk.exe /productkey YourPurchasedSerialNumber. This time you’ll not have to reboot the machine. Go to Settings –> Activation to see if your machine is now Windows Professional and is activated. It should be.

Works with Windows 11.

Update 7 Aug 2026

Used the generic SN (VK..) on a HP Pavilion x2 Detachable (circa 2018) to upgrade from Windows 11 Home Edition (installed via USB stick) to Pro (The machine itself came with Windows 10). After the reboot, it was fully activated, there was no need to buy another license. You could confirm the activation by running this on cmd, slmgr /dlv which should confirm the full activation.

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