Hello, I’m Virginia an independent advisor with 20 years of expertise in fixing my own & friends’ PC problems.
Which Windows 10 build are you running - 1903, 1909, 2004 or 20H2 (Oct 2020)?
Unfortunately if you have used KMS/volume license then you need to clean install Windows to return to Windows 10 Home.
This comes with no guarantee that it’ll work:
1. Open an elevated command prompt
Type slmgr /ipk <ProductKey> (Replace <ProductKey> with one of these below)
- The key you found when running oemkey program.
-YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 – Use if you had Home. Even if you upgraded to Pro through Windows Store
-VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T – Use if you had Pro. Purchased as Pro not upgraded from Home
-BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT – Use only if you have a Single Language edition
Reboot the PC. (Critical step. This will cause an activation event at next startup and will do many ‘background’ tasks necessary for successful activation)
Once in the OEM/Retail ‘channel’ activation will complete successfully using 1 of these methods
1. Automatic - No user interaction required. If the hardware has not changed and they had Windows 10 successfully installed and activated on this hardware, the Digital Entitlement will be found and brought back down to the PC.
2. Activation Troubleshooter – Automatic after customer presses button.
3. Manually changing to a OEM/Retail product key using Settings > Update & security > Activation > Change Product Key.
This is not the VLK you obtained from Amazon, eBay, Kinguin, etc.
This will require a OEM/Retail key. Comes from the OEM within the BIOS, from the packaging you bought in a Retail Store, or from the email you received from Microsoft Store.
As you originally had Home you would use that generic key.
If the PC came with Windows 10 Home then slmgr cmds will not show any key.
Virginia - Time Lady.
Which Windows 10 build are you running - 1903, 1909, 2004 or 20H2 (Oct 2020)?
Unfortunately if you have used KMS/volume license then you need to clean install Windows to return to Windows 10 Home.
This comes with no guarantee that it’ll work:
1. Open an elevated command prompt
Type slmgr /ipk <ProductKey> (Replace <ProductKey> with one of these below)
- The key you found when running oemkey program.
-YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7 – Use if you had Home. Even if you upgraded to Pro through Windows Store
-VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T – Use if you had Pro. Purchased as Pro not upgraded from Home
-BT79Q-G7N6G-PGBYW-4YWX6-6F4BT – Use only if you have a Single Language edition
Reboot the PC. (Critical step. This will cause an activation event at next startup and will do many ‘background’ tasks necessary for successful activation)
Once in the OEM/Retail ‘channel’ activation will complete successfully using 1 of these methods
1. Automatic - No user interaction required. If the hardware has not changed and they had Windows 10 successfully installed and activated on this hardware, the Digital Entitlement will be found and brought back down to the PC.
2. Activation Troubleshooter – Automatic after customer presses button.
3. Manually changing to a OEM/Retail product key using Settings > Update & security > Activation > Change Product Key.
This is not the VLK you obtained from Amazon, eBay, Kinguin, etc.
This will require a OEM/Retail key. Comes from the OEM within the BIOS, from the packaging you bought in a Retail Store, or from the email you received from Microsoft Store.
As you originally had Home you would use that generic key.
If the PC came with Windows 10 Home then slmgr cmds will not show any key.
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