Wondering If I Can Upgrade Win10 HOME to PRO By Installing Win7-Pro and Upgrading?

[rcxtra]

Got a used cheap laptop (Asus X555LA, i3-5020U) that came with Win10 Home edition. I've got an extra copy of Win7 Pro laying around and was wondering if I installed that and then upgraded if it would work to upgrade to Win10 Pro?

Not sure if the Windows server will allow the upgrade if it's already seen the laptop as registered with the Win10 Home edition. Plus there's the issue that Asus only has drivers going back to Win8.1 (no Win7 drivers). Do you think it's worth a try or would it be a futile attempt?

And could I use the Win8.1 drivers for the Win7 install? Anyone ever try that before, is it possible?

 

[Martell1977]

You could just re-install Windows 10 Pro, skip the part about entering a Windows key, then in Windows, go to activate it and give it the 7 Pro key. I did that for client that had 7 Ultimate.

 

[rcxtra]

You could just re-install Windows 10 Pro, skip the part about entering a Windows key, then in Windows, go to activate it and give it the 7 Pro key. I did that for client that had 7 Ultimate.

Ah, I had forgotten that MS added that functionality. Do you know if it has to be a Win7 retail key, or will an OEM key work too?

 

[Martell1977]

Ah, I had forgotten that MS added that functionality. Do you know if it has to be a Win7 retail key, or will an OEM key work too?

Should work either way, so long as the key isn't registered to a different machine. If by OEM key, you mean one that was pre-installed by an OEM like Dell, HP, etc. then it is tied to that machine and you will probably have issues.

 

[rcxtra]

Yes, it's a pre-installed Win7 Pro OEM key, but tied to a dead laptop that wasn't upgraded to Win10.

That's why I had to pickup a cheap used/open box laptop. I guess I could image the drive as is, then give it a shot. If it doesn't work I'll just blow the original image back to the disk.