I do computer maintenance and services as my part-time job. One of the annoying problems which many users encounter while installing Windows 10 operating system in their computers is lack of the ability to choose the Windows 10 Edition.
When performing a clean installation of the new Windows 10 version, most of the users can’t select which Windows 10 edition they want to install. The Windows 10 installer automatically installs the Windows 10 Home edition in their computer without giving any option to the user to choose a different edition. In my humble opinion, by default, Microsoft should allow the users to select the Windows 10 edition type (Home, Education, Pro, etc) during the installation process.
The reason for this annoying issue is because Windows 10 installer automatically detects the Windows edition type of the previously installed Windows version on the user’s computer. Then it automatically installs the corresponding edition of Windows 10. For example, if the user had a Windows 8.1 Home edition installed in the computer previously, then the Windows 10 installer will automatically install a new Windows 10 Home edition on that computer. This is because the installer detects the previous Windows version product key which is stored in BIOS.
So how do we solve this issue?
The solution? We need to force the Windows 10 installer to provide a selection screen so that we can choose which Windows 10 Edition we want to install.
We can force the Windows 10 installer to install our desired Windows 10 edition by adding a new file called “ei.cfg” in the Windows 10 installer media tool. By adding this file to the Windows 10 installer, it will display the above selection screen and allows you to choose your preferred Windows 10 edition.
Step 1 – Create Windows 10 Installation Media
Create a Windows 10 Installer using Microsoft Installation Media Tool. You can download it from the following link:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10
Step 2 – Create ei.cfg File
Copy and paste the following code into Windows Notepad or Notepad++.
[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0Save the file with the name of “ei.cfg”.
Use the double-quotes “” while saving the file. Otherwise, the Notepad program will create a text file with the name of ei.cfg.txt unless you have already enabled the file name extensions, you can skip this.
Step 3 – Move the ei.cfg file into the Sources folder of the Windows 10 Installation Media.
Now move / copy the ei.cfg file that you have created into the Sources folder of the Windows 10 Installation Media.
Step 4 – Run the Windows 10 Installation
If you do it right, you will be able to see the Windows 10 Edition selection screen as below.
Hope this helps!
