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Change the Windows Image to a Higher Edition Using DISM

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You can use the Windows edition servicing commands to list an image's potential editions or change an image's edition to a higher edition. Packages for each potential target edition are staged in a Windows image. When you service an image, updates are applied to each edition in the image.

  • Changing the Windows edition offline doesn't require a product key. After you change an image to a higher edition using offline servicing, you can add the product key by using one of the following methods:
    • Enter the product key during the out-of-box experience (OOBE).
    • Use an unattended answer file to enter the product key during the specialize configuration pass.
    • Use Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) with the /Set-ProductKey option after you set the edition offline.
  • Changing the Windows edition online requires a product key.

For more information about product keys, see Work with Product Keys and Activation.

Find and Change Current Edition of Windows

You can find the edition of Windows your image is currently set to by mounting the image and running DISM commands on the mounted image.

Find the current edition

  1. Open a Command prompt as an administrator.

  2. Run DISM with the Get-ImageInfo option to retrieve the name or index number for the image that you want to modify.

    Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim

  3. Mount your Windows image.

    Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\images /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\test\offline

    An index or name value is required for most operations that specify an image file.

  4. Type the following command to find the edition of Windows your image is currently set to.

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Get-CurrentEdition

    Note which edition of Windows your image is currently set to. If the image has already been changed to a higher edition you should not change it again. Use the lowest edition as a starting point.

  5. Unmount the image or continue with the next procedure. To unmount your image, type the following command.

    Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit

Change to a higher edition

Important

On Windows 11 24H2 and later releases, when upgrading from Core/Home editions to any higher editions, including Education, Enterprise, and Professional editions, it is strongly recommended to preinstall the feature on demand SENSE Client for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE). When not preinstalled on devices with supported Windows editions, the device will not be able to onboard to MDE.

  1. If it's not already mounted, mount your image:

    Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\test\offline

  2. Use DISM's Get-TargetEditions option to find the editions of Windows that you can change your image to.

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Get-TargetEditions

    Note the edition-ID for the edition you want to change to.

    Important

    You can't set a Windows image to a lower edition. The lowest edition will not appear when you run the /Get-TargetEditions option. Don't use this procedure on an image that has already been changed to a higher edition.

  3. Type the following command specifying the edition-ID to change the Windows image to a higher edition.

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Set-Edition:Professional

  4. Unmount the image, commiting your changes.

    Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit

Understanding Servicing Strategies

DISM Windows Edition-Servicing Command-Line Options

DISM - Deployment Image Servicing and Management Technical Reference for Windows