Fix Unable to Select Windows 10 Pro Edition During Clean Installation

Microsoft Windows 10 users are complaining of a new annoying error while trying to install the latest build of Windows 10. The problem was there with other builds such as 10586 and later versions.

If you are trying to clean install Windows 10, the chances are that you won’t be able to select the Windows edition (Pro – Home). A clean install is always a great way to get rid of most of the computer problems, but some users are reporting this issue.

So, today, I will show you how to fix unable to select Windows 10 Pro edition during a clean installation of Windows 10. The fix is reportedly working on Windows 10 build 1607 x64. If you are running an older version of the Windows 10, it should work fine.

The fix given below can also fix error 0xc004f014 (could not reach windows activation servers).

The Problem?

When you run the Windows 10 setup, it automatically installs Windows 10 Home edition without giving any option to select the Windows 10 Pro edition.

The reason why this happens is that Windows 10 is designed to detect the older edition of Windows installed on your computer and install the same edition of the new OS as well. So, if you were running Windows 7 Home, you can only install Windows 10 Home edition on your PC.

The Solution to Can’t Select Windows 10 Pro Edition During Clean Installation

The fix for this problem is to force Windows to provide an option to select the edition of the Windows 10 during the clean installation. So that when you run the setup, you can select Windows 10 Pro edition if you want to install it.

Note: One thing to remember here is that if you have the Windows 10 Home product key or had Windows 10 Home installed earlier and now if you force install Windows 10 Pro then you won’t be able to activate the Windows 10 Pro edition.

To force Windows 10 Pro edition install we are going to create “ei.cfg” file and then move it to Windows 10 setup ISO image. The “ei.cfg” file tells the Windows 10 setup to install Pro or Home edition of the OS. So, let’s get started.

Step 1: Extract Windows 10 setup ISO file

Use any free file extracting utility such as 7-Zip to extract the Windows 10 setup ISO file. The extracting process may take some time, so have patience.

Step 2: Create ei.cfg file

The next step is to create the ei.cfg file. So, open Notepad and copy/paste the command given below.

[Channel]

Retail

The above command prompts you to select the Windows 10 edition you want to install when you run the Windows 10 setup. So, you can either select Windows 10 Pro or Home editing during the clean installation.

However, if you want to directly install the Windows 10 Pro, use this command instead:

[EditionID]

Professional

[Channel]

Retail

Now you have to save the file. Press Ctrl S, name it as “ei.cfg” and click save. Make sure you use double quote while saving the file, if not, Notepad will save the file as a text file.



Step 3: Move ei.cfg to Windows 10 Setup ISO
Assuming that you have extracted the Windows 10 setup ISO file and have the ei.cfg file ready, it is time to repack them.

Now copy the “ei.cfg” file to Sources folder of Windows 10 setup folder that you got after extracting the ISO file.

That’s it! Now you can either burn the file to a DVD or create a Windows 10 Bootable USB drive. Once done, you can proceed to install the Windows 10 Pro edition without any problem.