Windows 10 became officially available as of today. Unfortunately for those of us running Windows 8 or 8.1 Enterprise, there isn't a free upgrade path available out of the box. For all other users, one can simply download and run the MediaToolkit program which will upgrade your Windows installation to 10 now without the need of having to wait.
Now if you are like me and want Windows 10 today, there is an easy "trick" to get Windows 10 Professional instead of Windows 10 Enterprise and it will only take you a few (20) minutes to do so.
You will need:
- Administrator access to your machine including rights to edit the local registry
- A compatible Windows 8.1 Pro ISO VLK version
- A Windows 10 Pro ISO or just run the MediaToolkit like everyone else
You will lose:
- Direct Access
- Language Packs
- Some other shizzle I have never ever used
And here are the things you need to do:
- Edit two registry keys in: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
- Change ProductName to Windows 8.1 Professional
- Change EditionID to Professional
- Edit 2 keys in HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
- Change ProductName to Windows 8.1 Professional
- Change EditionID to Professional
- Install Windows 8.1 Pro (VLK version) (8 min)
- Install Windows 10 Pro (10 min) (Use the MediaToolkit)
Aaaand you're done!