Appreciate your concern regarding the two sites.

Fair enough, but you have to understand that any program that is a "Crack" will be flagged as malicious. Its the nature of a "cracK' to mess with the registry or part of the system so any good anti virus program will flag it.

Anyway as I said have been using these sites for many years and never had a problem. I just disable my real time protection during an install.

I do understand people alarm when "Warning" notices flash up on the screen, so create a restore point or do a full back up before proceeding so you can always go back if neccessary.

D.D.

Thanks to all whom contributed to my OP.

Well on 2026-08-05 I did get a key from Kinguin https://www.kinguin.net/ > GameCrew $30 USD.

However unknown if it's good because this OS if fighting back.

Have a 2022 Lenovo AIO with OEM Windows 11 Home. And it has a MS account.

It refuses to upgrade or fresh install to Pro.

It has a digital license in the UEFI BIOS.

Have tried everything suggested by very knowledgeable prople.

It will not upgrade, change the code in UEFI bios unless I phone MS and create a new account.

I don't want a MS account. So I'm stuck for awhile till I find another way.

Again Thanks to all.

To have a MS account is actually not really such a big issue. But ok, everyone must decide for themselves. But in your situation it might turn out as a good solution.

Edited August 10Aug 10 by msbkk

3 hours ago, howto said:

Thanks to all whom contributed to my OP.

Well on 2026-08-05 I did get a key from Kinguin https://www.kinguin.net/ > GameCrew $30 USD.

However unknown if it's good because this OS if fighting back.

Have a 2022 Lenovo AIO with OEM Windows 11 Home. And it has a MS account.

It refuses to upgrade or fresh install to Pro.

It has a digital license in the UEFI BIOS.

Have tried everything suggested by very knowledgeable prople.

It will not upgrade, change the code in UEFI bios unless I phone MS and create a new account.

I don't want a MS account. So I'm stuck for awhile till I find another way.

Again Thanks to all.

Haha...you didn't need to purchase a key for that. Why didn't you specify that is what you wanted to do in the first place?

Do you need help here too @scottiejohn ? What do you need? An explanation of why the OP didn't need to buy a key in order to upgrade to Pro?

20 hours ago, howto said:

Thanks to all whom contributed to my OP.

Well on 2026-08-05 I did get a key from Kinguin https://www.kinguin.net/ > GameCrew $30 USD.

However unknown if it's good because this OS if fighting back.

Have a 2022 Lenovo AIO with OEM Windows 11 Home. And it has a MS account.

It refuses to upgrade or fresh install to Pro.

It has a digital license in the UEFI BIOS.

Have tried everything suggested by very knowledgeable prople.

It will not upgrade, change the code in UEFI bios unless I phone MS and create a new account.

I don't want a MS account. So I'm stuck for awhile till I find another way.

Again Thanks to all.

Who were these "very knowledgeable people"?

The simplest way for you to accomplish your task, would be to simply enter the generic Product Key for core Windows 11 Pro; VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T and then to follow the prompts.

After rebooting you should then have been upgraded to Windows 11 Pro. Then simply to utilise your US$30 key for activation, if it is actually a valid key for Windows 11 Pro.

Sources; https://microsoft.com/technet, https://learn.microsoft.com/Q&A, https://www.windowscentral.com/, https://www.elevenforum.com/, https://forums.tomshardware.com/, https://www.reddit.com/.

Tried the 'Generic Version Key' Failed, Error = FAILED NON-CORE EDITION OF WINDOWS

The CORE EDITION is 'Core is what Microsoft calls a synonym of Windows 10 Home so it's the same edition'

(This is what this system started with), upgrade to Win 11 Home and Product Key is not changed nor digital license.

Open command prompt/terminal and run slmgr /xpr, Windows 10/11 Home will be listed as Core edition

So must call MS, They change the version to Win11 Pro Retail,

soon after it connects to the internet it will phone home,

and find the Pro Digital License in MS Activation servers to activate.

The key is not your license, so the key used is not a problem as long as you have a legitimate license.

>> Bruised a rib on the 11th, very painful.

I will set this aside for the next 7~10 days.

I will return with a update and solution (If MS worked or not).

2 hours ago, howto said:

Sources; https://microsoft.com/technet, https://learn.microsoft.com/Q&A, https://www.windowscentral.com/, https://www.elevenforum.com/, https://forums.tomshardware.com/, https://www.reddit.com/.

Tried the 'Generic Version Key' Failed, Error = FAILED NON-CORE EDITION OF WINDOWS

The CORE EDITION is 'Core is what Microsoft calls a synonym of Windows 10 Home so it's the same edition'

(This is what this system started with), upgrade to Win 11 Home and Product Key is not changed nor digital license.

Open command prompt/terminal and run slmgr /xpr, Windows 10/11 Home will be listed as Core edition

So must call MS, They change the version to Win11 Pro Retail,

soon after it connects to the internet it will phone home,

and find the Pro Digital License in MS Activation servers to activate.

The key is not your license, so the key used is not a problem as long as you have a legitimate license.

>> Bruised a rib on the 11th, very painful.

I will set this aside for the next 7~10 days.

I will return with a update and solution (If MS worked or not).

I neglected to tell you to disconnect from the Internet firstly. Try it again, but this time disconnect the Internet connection. It should work, unless you have taken other steps that have not been made clear.

So try that firstly and only read below if it fails again.

What you write doesn't really make sense, at all.

You state that it already has Windows 11 Home(OEM), but then write about upgrading to Windows 11 Home...

Do you mean that the system came with Windows 10 Home, which you then upgraded to Windows 11 Home and now wish to move to Pro?

Have you attempted to run an in-place upgrade with a mounted Windows 11 Pro image? Mount and run Setup.exe.

If we are online at the same time, we could fix it in minutes. You don't need to call Microsoft for anything. How do you propose that Microsoft changes the version to Windows 11 Pro Retail?

Especially when you have an OEM licence. No Microsoft support for OEM licences.

>> Bruised rib still painful.

OK the update,

I am the 3'rd owner. 1'st owner purchased it In 2022 AIO, came with Win10 Home and did the auto-update to Win11 Home.

He pawned it in 2025. My friend works at the pawn shop and bought it cheap. It sat in her closet for a year.

She gave it to me last April.

I have always used Win 'Ultimate' or Pro, Its better than Home.

Hope that's clear.

The Update;

On the AIO, Went to MS and created an account. Then Logon to my account.

Find 'Activation' page, enter MY Win 11 Pro Retail Key. Worked instantly.

Logoff MS. Shutdown, Restart into UEFI BIOS.

Yes it shows Win 11 Pro Retail Activated AND shows the UEFI BIOS Win 11 Home.

That will never change.

Shutdown, Restart, check in Win 11 Powershell,

Lists 'Win 11 Pro Retail Activated' AND shows the 'UEFI BIOS Win 11 Home'.

Shutdown, Restart, Boot USB Thumb with HBCD Win 11PE. Check with 2 apps, again the same result.

Next "TURN OFF WINDOWS UPDATES", as much as possible. Don't want a update to break this.

So that's it, this saga is done.

Next Use Chris Titus Debloat Script.

Then Classic Shell using my Win7 Ultimate Cfg.

Then a LOT of getting my used Apps & utilities, etc,etc,etc.

OK that's a wrap for this thread. No more updates.

Thanks to all whom contributed - Howto.