If you purchase a new PC with Windows 11 Home preinstalled, you might be able to get right to work. But for demanding PC owners, this entry-level edition doesn’t have some essential features, like the ability to connect to a Windows domain-based network, manage disk encryption, fine-tune update schedules, or create virtual machines. (For a detailed list of Pro-only features, see “7 reasons Windows 11 Pro is worth the upgrade – and the best way to do it.”)
To get those features, you need to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro. That’s a pretty straightforward process, but if you’re not careful, you can end up spending much more than you need to on the upgrade. And you can also find yourself having to do it all over again if you need to reinstall Windows.
Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 in 2025
In this article, I …