How to Downgrade Windows 10 Pro to Home

Jul 21, 2020 · 7 min read

Windows has launched two new versions Windows 10 Pro and Windows Home Version. As windows 10 pro has many advanced features and additional features, the activation and license key is very costly, many users try to downgrade their systems or laptops Windows 10 pro to Windows 10 Home.

This article covers all the methods and process that are required to downgrade the Windows 10 pro Os to Windows 10 home OS. It will also provide the differences between the both Os versions and reason to downgrade the Windows version.

Part 1: Why downgrade from Pro to Home?

Par t 2: Windows 10 Pro VS Home

Part 3: How to Downgrade Windows 10 Pro to Home

Part 1: Why downgrade from Pro to Home?

When you install Original Windows 10 home version Operating system on your system and forget to disable the option “Install Updates”, Windows will automatically update your OS to the updated version like the Windows 10 Pro.

When this upgrade process is completed, it might ask for the activation key which will be very expensive. This when we look into downgrade of Windows 10 Pro to Home which will allow you to use your older version of windows home which is already activated with the license key that you have.

When your Windows gets updated automatically, there is nothing that you can do stop that installation. But when you try to activate the windows, you need to use the keys that are generated for activation. When Windows 10 Home version is providing lot of efficient features, many of us want use that instead of buying the expensive keys. The only difference between Home and Pro is the security that they both provide and Windows 10 pro can be used on professional and business computers. But for personal computers or laptops , Windows 10 Home edition will be sufficient.

Part 2: Windows 10 Pro VS Home

The main difference between Windows 10 Pro and Windows Home is the security that both of them provide. When compared to Windows 10 home, pro is more secure as the device with pro can be connected to a domain. The other differences include:

• Windows 10 pro has many advanced built –in features like Hyper-V, Bitlocker, Microsoft update for Business, Remote desktop and assigned access which are not available in Windows 10 home edition.
• Using the Bitlocker, you can provide a secondary level of security for your files. This specially used for professional and personal computers or laptops to save your important data.
• Update from cloud is another efficient feature that is not available in Windows 10 Home. Using this feature all the laptops and computers that are connected to a domain can be updated via cloud using a single central computer.
• Assigned access is one more secured feature that allows you to control others from using your system and opening whatever they want on your system. Using this you can restrict their usage on computer apps.
• When compared to memory usages of both the windows versions, Windows 10 Home supports a maximum of 128 GB RAM where as Windows 10 Pro supports 2 TB RAM.
• The Hyper V feature of Windows 10 Pro will allow the users to access running virtual machines on CPUs that support virtualization.
• As hyper-V is included in Windows 10 Pro, you need to download that and install on your computer separately.
• One of the great differences that we have discussed earlier is the remote desktop. Using this feature, you can connect other system remotely which is very important and necessary in these days. It is highly recommended for all those who are working from as it makes their work easy and efficient.

Part 3: How to Downgrade Windows 10 Pro to Home

Method 1: Downgrade Windows 10 Pro to Home through Editing Registry Keys

As discussed above, many of us may not require buying expensive keys to activate the Windows 10 pro and look for the process to downgrade from Windows 10 to home.

Step 1: It is always recommended to take a backup of all the important files before starting the downgrade process. There is a possibility for the data to be erased completely, so ensure that the backup is done.

Step 2: Before you start the downgrade process, ensure that you have the valid license key to continue with the process, or else you might get struck in the middle of the process.

Step 3: In the search option, type 1”Regedit” and click on “Run it as Administrator” to open the Registry Editor.

Step 4: Navigate to the following path:

Step 5: Now in this location, search for Product name and you will find it as “Windows 10 Pro”. Double click on it and change the Product Name to “Windows 10 Home”.

Step 6: Now open the “EditionID” by double clicking on it and change its value to “Core”.

Step 7: Now, navigate to the following path:

Step 8: Search for product name, change it to Home and EditionID to Core.

Step 9: Download the “media creation tool” and open it

Step 10: Click on “Accept” to proceed with the process.

Step 11: In the next screen, you will see two options “Upgrade this PC now” and “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC”.

Step 12: Select the ”Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC” and click on “Next”.

Step 13: Click on “ISO file” and next.

Step 14: Save the ISO file in your desired location and double click on it to start the installation.

Step 15: Click on “Setup” and in the next window, select the “Not Right Now” option and click on “Next”

Step 16: In the next window, accept the license and agreement by clicking on “Accept”.

Step 17: In the Ready to install window, click on “Install” to start the installation.

Step 18: While installing the Windows 10 Home, Your system will restart several times which is very normal , so don’t worry about that.

Once the windows has been successfully installed, check for all the files whether they are installed or not. Now Windows 10 Home edition is ready and activated on your computer to provide you the best and powerful features that it has.

Method 2: Clean install Windows 10 Home from Bootable Windows 10 Recovery Media

This method provides you the clean install process to ensure that the Windows 10 home edition is successfully installed on your computer without any interruption.

It is a simple three step process which includes:

Step 1: Download the “Media Creation Tool” by just searching for it in Google. Now using this tool, download all the latest installation files from the Download Windows 10 page. Place them all in bootable USB flash drive.

Step 2: Now, use the necessary keys to start the boot process directly from Windows setup program. Use the available built-in tools to reformat the drive and ensure that the old files are taken back up in the drive.

Step 3: Now, install Windows 10 Home addition from the bootable drive and to activate it, enter the product key that you have to activate and use the Windows 10 home edition.

An important point to note is that, if you are installing the new Windows version without formatting the older drive, ensure to perform the additional steps once the installation is completed. Ensure that you clean up the Windows old folder before you install the new Windows 10 operating system.

Conclusion

As the clear steps for the downgrade process has been stated above, following those steps will easily and efficiently downgrade the Windows 10 Pro to home edition. Before you downgrade the OS, ensure that you take the backup of all the important information or files.

When compared to the Home edition, Pro is the secured version as it has many additional security features as it will connect the device to a particular domain. But as many people don’t want to spend much amount on the key, so they wish to downgrade to the previous activated version (Windows 10 Home).

Downgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Home Single Language

I had reformat my laptop after been infected by ransomware. I sent my laptop to the shop and they had installed Windows 10 Pro but my OEM license is Windows 10 Home Single Language. I had tried to run clean installation by using media creation tool but cant select Windows 10 Home.Right now,my Windows is not activated. I had changed my Windows NT in regedit to Windows 10 Home and even added ei.cfg to sources file but still not working. Hopefully someone can assist me on this.

Replies (3) 

To assist you better on how to downgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Home Single Language, we’d like to know if you’re getting any error messages.

Meanwhile, we suggest that you follow the steps shared by Andre Da Costa on this thread on how to downgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Home.

Keep us posted if you need additional help.

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The error code I have is 0xC004F074 which I had compared it in the forum. I had tried to retrieve product key by using cmd and when I entered product key the error code appeared : 0xc004f050. I had tried clean installation so many times, but whenever I tried to select Windows 10 Home, there is no option for me to select in the first place. I had followed the steps listed by Andre Da Costa by changing the EditionID and ProductName but still the setup will show Windows 10 Pro and not Home.

Hope you can assist me on this concern.

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Downgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Home?

For some reason, my Windows 10 Home has magically upgraded itself to Pro, only of course I do not have the product key for Pro so it will not activate. (I think this is because I was part of the Insider programme and then left — presumably the system did not revert to Home as it should have.)

How can I «downgrade» to Home so the system will correctly reactivate itself?

I have tried all the methods I can find with Google but none of those work for me.

For example, I cannot do a clean install of Home — which is what most people suggest — because when I run the Media Creation Tool, it automatically tries to install a copy of Pro. I never see an option to choose Home instead.

I have tried changing EditionID to Core and ProductName to Windows 10 Home in the registry, as I have seen suggested, but this does nothing at all. The system still won’t activate.

Any ideas please? (edit) For example, could I change the Product Key to the default Home key of YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7?

Unfortunately, clean install is your only option, you can’t downgrade from Pro to Home. Changing the key will not work. You could try the following work around then test your luck:

Open Registry Editor (WIN + R, type regedit, hit Enter)

Browse to key HKEY_Local Machine > Software > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion

Change EditionID to Home (double click EditionID, change value, click OK). In your case it should at the moment show Pro

Change ProductName to Windows 10 Home . In your case it should at the moment show Windows 10 Professional

Browse to key HKEY_Local Machine > Software > Wow6432Node > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion , change the same two values as in steps 3 and 4 above

Close the Registry Editor

Insert the Windows 10 Home installation media, do an in-place upgrade by launching the setup from desktop (not booting with Windows 10 Home install media)

When asked, enter your valid Windows 10 Home product key and select what to keep (settings, personal files and apps, only personal files or nothing)

Windows 10 Home in-place upgrade will be done now.

Downgrade from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 10 Home version

My old WindowVista PC hardrive failed. So the tech installed Windows 10 PRO on a new SSD drive.

I asked for windows 10 , and didn’t think he would install the PRO.

Now the computer had issue running Google sketchup which is the only program I use so I need to downgrade to Home version.

Is there a way to downgrade from PRO to Home version ?

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Yes but my advice is to go back to talk to the tech and tell him to do it for you. Because your computer has an issue with win 10 Pro. You need windows 10 home. Tell him to transfer your windows 10 Pro license to another PC and install the windows home that your computer deserve.

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My name is Fred. I am an independent advisor, First of all, thanks for being part of the Microsoft Community, I will try to help you.

Unfortunately, downgrading the edition is not possible. It can be done by reinstalling Windows. Choose Windows 10 Home when asked for a version to Install.

Kindly see the link for the guide on how to do a clean install.

But, How do you know that your issue with Google Sketchup is Windows 10 PRO?

In the end, They are exactly the same except for Professional having a few features that Home does not.

I hope this information is useful to you but in any case, I will be here.