I have reinstalled Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit with a Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit CD. After the installation, I realized, that there has been Windows 10 Home edition installed.  Since the installation never asked for a product key, I tried to enter it after the setup, updates and so on...   An error message says, that the key is invalid.  How did I installed a Home version with Pro CD? If I have the CD, can I upgrade my version to Pro?. (Reinstalling did not work either.)
115419
My laptop (a Lenovo Flex 2 15) came preinstalled with Windows 8 Standard (with the serial key preinstalled into the BIOS), and I've since installed an SSD (a Samsung Evo 840 120GB) &amp; upgraded to Windows 10.  When the laptop still had its hard drive, I upgraded it to Professional so I could use the resources provided by the domain on my homeserver; because of this, I can only use the Professional editions of Windows (Home can't join domains).  I bought Windows 10 Professional &amp; completed a fresh-install (complete reinstallation) of Windows, only that it installed Windows 10 Home instead of Professional. I'm guessing this is due to the Windows 8 Standard Edition serial key preinstalled in the BIOS.  I then downloaded an All-In-One ISO image of Windows 10 from MSDN (of which I have limited access to), transferred the installer onto a USB stick, &amp; reinstalled (a clean install again). However it's still installing Windows 10 Home.  If I try to install using the AIO image from within Windows, the installer does not present me with a list of options for the edition I want to install; instead, it assumes that I want to install Home Edition:    I am able to get Windows 10 Professional to install if I disable UEFI &amp; use Legacy instead, but I feel that this is stepping around the issue rather than resolving it.  Is it possible to have the Windows 10 installer ignore any serial keys preinstalled in the BIOS/UEFI? If so, how? If not, is using Legacy mode really the only way around this?
17316
I have a Windows machine (laptop) that needs fixing. The current installation is really badly broken (e.g. the taskbar is unresponsive, but the Explorer windows work, booting takes literally half an hour) and when I try to access the settings app and click on the tile to access the reset settings it instantly crashes. The same happens in Safe Mode.  I have created a USB install medium using the tool offered by Windows on my own Windows desktop machine. I've ensured that both the laptop and the USB tool have the same version of Windows (Home, 64-bit, NL). When I want to reinstall Windows on the laptop with this stick I am asked to enter a serial number which I obviously don't have. I don't want to try and see if I can phone activate it, because if it fails the install is gone.  I need to reinstall this Windows machine from a USB stick. There are a few problems I can't find an immediate solution for on the .   If I use a tool such as  to extract the serial number, will this work? If the above does not work, how can I reinstall this Windows machine?
66889
I currently have Windows 7 Home Premium, and I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 8. Is it possible to use the Upgrade to dual-boot the two versions, or will the upgrade have to overwrite Windows 7? If it overwrites, is the process reversible to get Windows 7 back if I decide I don't like 8?
97544
I have a computer which is working fine after a windows re-install.  However, I did not install any drivers at all, they seem to have been installed via Windows Update.  Back then, I remember I had to download the latest drivers from the motherboard manufacturer, video-card manufacturer, etc.  Is this still valid?  Should I download the latest drivers from the manufacturers, or are the drivers available via Windows update enough?  I am running Windows 8.1.
28522
On Windows 10 Professional, with the November update (Build 10586, Version 1511) , is there any possibility to completely remove Windows Defender ?  I don't want to just disable Windows Defender.  I want to completely uninstall from my system.
63844
The company that I work for continuously hires new people, and I'm the one who has to go and purchase new computers.  The majority of them, if not all, come pre-installed with Windows Home editions.  I'm noticing that the Windows 7/8 Home editions are unable to connect to domains.  I'm having to buy the upgrades to the Pro editions.  I'm trying to understand as to why the Home edition of the OS is unable to connect to domains?
34533
I purchased Windows 8 online from Microsoft a while ago. Today Windows 8.1 was released as a free update to Windows 8 users over the Windows Store.  I was planning to do a fresh install of Windows 8.1 to have a clean system again and UEFI support because I got new hardware since the Windows 8 installation.  So my questions are:   Where do I get the ISO installation medium for Windows 8.1 64-bit? I tried  where I initially got my Windows 8 ISO from, but when entering my Windows 8 key in the Windows 8.1 installer, it says the key is wrong. Even if I get the ISO, will my old key work? I'm concerned because it didn't work in their installer (see previous point)   Do they seriously want me to reinstall Windows 8 and after that upgrade to Windows 8.1 through their Store?!
96878
I am trying to upgrade my Win7 system to Windows 10 (because I am, apparently, masochistic). It's not working, locking up at about 30 to 35%, requiring me to reset, which then backs out the upgrade.  The whole process takes about three to four hours. A large part of this is having to download 3.5GB of upgrade every time, because Microsoft's tool doesn't cache the install files.  The tool has an option to create a bootable USB stick, which I can use to do an install. This should be way faster.  However, Microsoft seem really firm that if I want to get my free upgrade, I need to pick to 'Upgrade this PC' option from the upgrade tool. This seems peculiar. Can anyone confirm (i.e. who actually knows from first hand knowledge) whether upgrading from a USB stick actually works?
41071
I'm trying to activate a new Windows installation using the digital license that's associated with my Microsoft account. On the old (activated) pc, I can go to the activation setting and see the "Windows is activated with a digital license tied to your Microsoft account" message.  On the new PC, if I log in with the same Microsoft account, Windows is not activated. I get the message that a valid product key has not been found (0xC004F213).  Using the trouble shooter, I get the message that Windows cannot be activated on this device. I then click "I recently changed the hardware for this device."  I then get a dialog showing me the device with the old motherboard. If I click "Activate", I get a simple "Windows cannot be activated" message.  If I go back to settings and try to change the product key, and enter the old pc's product key, I get an error that says the key is invalid (0x80041023).  I'm kind of at a loss now. How do I get this working?  Windows 10 Pro x64 was installed on both devices using the same USB drive.
53588
I'm currently running Win10 Pro and I'm looking to upgrade to Win10 Enterprise (to get rid of Windows bloatware and telemetry etc). Is it possible to install Enterprise while keeping my installed programs? I'm not worried about my files as I have them on a separate drive. I'm just worried about registry stuff because I really want to avoid the hassle of reinstalling and reactivating all my software. I've recently discovered Win10 Education but a) I'm not sure if I can keep it forever, and b) it doesn't include Cortana and I'm not sure if the taskbar search bar is part of Cortana because if it is I don't want to lose it because I use it a lot.  Recap: I'm on Win10 Pro, I want Win10 Enterprise but without losing my programs. Win10 Education is an option but I'm not sure if a) there is a time limit and b) if it removes the search bar at the bottom.  Can anyone shed any light on this?
55972
I am currently running Windows 8.1 Pro, with BitLocker enabled (the hardware has no TPM, though).  I am curious as to whether I will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 when it is rolled out without having to disable BitLocker/decrypt the hard drive.  Windows Updates obviously work fine with BitLocker, but as I have not beta tested Windows 10 I have no idea whether I will need to decrypt the drive before upgrading the system to Windows 10 or not.  Any and all information is appreciated!
22780
I have not found any information from MS - only speculations from people like me, so I hope someone here has had better findings.  When I upgrade a qualified version of Windows to Windows 10 and then want to do a clean install, I've heard that the installer won't ask for a key. But what if my HDD is formatted before I attempt the clean install? How does Windows 10 try to detect the valid "upgraded" status? It seems that it doesn't in such a case, at least as far as I've tested.  So my question is: In that (or a similar) scenario: How do you clean install Windows 10?  In my case it's actually even more complicated. I'm from Germany so I can re-use OEM-licenses due to law. I have two qualified Windows OEM licenses which I both installed in a VM on my Linux installation and upgraded both to Windows 10.  Now I want to install one of them onto my bare physical machine - how would that be possible? Is there an official way of doing this or do I need to wait for those unofficial "backup license"-tools being updated to work with Windows 10?
56369
As per title, I wish to know if I can, after a successful 32bit setup and consequent software installations, update to a 64bit version.  I know how to partition (actually one of the solutions is to set /, /etc, /home, /var/www, and /opt as separate partitions) and I know that a clean install is way better than a dirty one, yet I would like to know if/how it's possible to do that.
101695
I have googled but can't find a definite answer to my question. All the answers are incomplete.    I want to clean install Windows 10 using USB. When restarting from USB I want to use advanced and format all the partitions and create one partition then install Windows 10 on it.   I bought my HP laptop with Windows 8 and upgraded for free to Windows 10 and activated auto.  Will Windows 10 activate after I remove all partitions and create one partition out of them and then install Windows 10 on it?  I have 2/3 Recovery partitions and windows old folder etc. Before the upgrade I only had one Recovery partition.   Scenario 1:   I have one Desktop with win8 activated, used free upgrade to win10 and activated. Formatted HDD and re-installed win10 with USB media from Microsoft. It did not activate after clean install. I had to install win8, activate it, upgrade to win10 and then it activated.  Scenario 2:  I have one laptop with windows 8 activated, used free upgrade to win10. Now I want to format all my partitions because they are useless and make one partition. This is possible when formatting. Because my HP laptop came with OEM OS, I do not have a serial because it was embedded in the recovery. So I can't use a serial to activate win10 if it does not activate itself. I also do not have the serial in this case to install win8 and activate it and then upgrade to win10 if win10 does not activate the same way as scenario 1.  I need an answer to if I can remove all paritions, create one and install Windows 10 on it so it activates. Or is the hidden super secret spy serial key stored on one of those partitions?
60648
I wonder, if it is possible to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Enterprise like with Windows 8.1 where you can add features by entering a valid key for Pro. I'd test it, if I wouldn't have to reinstall everything in case it doesn't work...   I ask, because I need Remote Desktop for work, which Win10 Home hasn't.
15589
My friend installed Windows 7 on his computer (upgrading from XP).  He wasn't sure if his processor supported x64 or not, so he installed the x86 version, just to be on the safe side.  After I looked it up, it turns out his processor does support x64, and now we want to upgrade.  The question is: is it possible to upgrade without completely re-installing the OS?  Can I? Or do I have to format the C: partition again?
52035
I have Windows XP Professional OEM key on the sticker on the computer, but I don't have a OEM media to perform reinstall.  I could obtain (it doesn't matter how) an installation ISO images from  site, but as I understand these are only images for Retail and Volume Licencing versions.  So, can I use Retail (or VL) media to perform install and activate with OEM licence key?