I recently sent 15 LG Gram laptops to my IT company for setup, but they returned them saying we need to pay £220 each for Windows Pro. We suggested upgrading from Windows Home to Pro through the Windows Store for £110 each, but they refused. Now the laptops are running an unactivated version of Windows Pro, and I can only activate it for the higher price. Is there any way to revert back to the original activated Windows Home they came with and then upgrade to Pro for the cheaper price? Or have I missed my chance?
4 Answers
Check if LG provides any recovery media on their support site for these laptops. If not, definitely use the media creation tool to make a bootable USB. The activation key is usually integrated into the BIOS, so Windows should activate automatically upon reinstalling it.
Yeah, LG’s support isn’t the best; you rarely see their machines in businesses because of that. They do make great screens, though!
You can totally reset them using the Windows Media Creation Tool on a USB drive! Just make sure you have that ready to go, and you should be set. This will likely restore them to the version that was originally activated.
I have a USB ready to go! Just wasn't sure if the reinstallation would end up being the activated version.
I’d recommend using a Windows ISO on a USB stick. You might also be able to roll back to the previous version if that’s an option. By the way, is your IT company in-house or contracted? Just curious!
They’re contracted and located in a different part of the city. Appreciate the advice!
If you don’t need to save anything on the laptops, I’d just go for a clean install. Boot from the USB, wipe all the partitions, and let the installer set things up again. If they were originally licensed for Windows Home, that’s what you'll end up with, and it'll activate after install. The reason your IT company wouldn’t use the Windows Store for the upgrade is probably that it requires handling multiple Microsoft accounts, and they might not want to link their card to yours. If you go the fresh install route, you can upgrade to Pro through the store later at the lower price yourself and then send them back for final setup!
I'll look into the recovery media, thanks for the tip!