Windows 10 Home to Pro upgrade - varying costs

I was looking at using the Remote Desktop (RDP) facility to take control of another Windows computer in order to help provide a bit of user support to a few members of my family (lucky me!).

However Windows 10 only supports this on the server (recipient) side if it is the Pro version, not the Home version.

So I looked at the cost of upgrading from Home to Pro - via the Microsoft Store the cost appears to be £219.

A quick search revealed a number of vendors offering supposedly legitimate licenses for Windows 10 Pro at a fraction of the cost - for example Software Geeks (a UK retailer) offer what they claim is a "genuine product key" for £19.99.

What am I missing in this odd equation?

Thanks for any help or enlightenment.

Edited by binary (Sat 02-Jun-18 20:02:54)

The Microsoft store is expensive, so avoid that.

If the price is substantially less than large store such as Currys, who currently charge £180, then in all likelihood it's a resold MSDN key. These keys normally work fine, but they are not allowed to be resold. The machine would not be correctly licenced, and even if it activated correctly to begin with, it could lose its activation status later on if Microsoft choose.

In addition, a proper retail copy would be allowed to be moved to a new PC as long as it was deleted from the old one. MSDN keys are single use. Granted MSDN keys are so cheap you could just repurchase for a new PC, subject to the licencing warning I gave earlier.

A cheaper option would be to investigate free third party remote access software.

The Microsoft store appears full product -

In reference to docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/deployment/upgrade/windows-10-edit...:

To upgrade through the Microsoft Store

From either the Start menu or the Start screen, type 'Activation' and click on the Activation shortcut.

Click Go to Store.

Follow the on-screen instructions.

Which quotes £119 (I assume $100 = £100 + Vat) for this machine (which incidently is what I was charged for OEM Pro version on latest PC) - I'd assume the £20 are OEMs or similar, may work probably not in accordance with licence conditions.

Other suggestions Remote Assistance, possibly VNC (but I would only do that behind VPN on a router, similarly remote desktop)

There is something called rdpwrap on GitHub you may want to investigate, but read FAQs

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS SENT UPON PURCHASE ON HOW TO DO SO.

I suspect that the catch lies there. You shouldn't need any special instructions to use a genuine key. And, at that price, the key can't possibly be genuine.

The key may work initially, but don't be surprised if it suddenly starts telling you that the software is unlicenced.

There's an app in Windows 10 called Quick Assist which will probably allow you to do what you need without the upgrade to Pro.

Type 'quick assist' sans quotes in the search box and follow your nose!

Good find IanBB.

What about TeamViewer?

Is it still free?

Looks like it is for personal rather than business use.

24.99 Euro for UK new install.Authorised and Genuine using Microsoft.
Was there something about reselling the original when upgraded. Anyway now installed latest updates now.