New Beta Build Lets Windows 11 Insiders in K-12 Education Environments Upgrade for Free

Microsoft has released four new builds for Windows 11 Insiders across different channels. Among them, one, Build 26220.8370, lands in the Beta channel. After updating systems to this build, Windows Insiders in K-12 education environments can now upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro Education at no additional cost.

Microsoft says the new upgrade path allows educational organizations to purchase Windows 11 Home devices, move them to the Pro Education edition, and bring those systems under school management more easily. Microsoft, detailing the instructions, notes the following in the changelog of Build 26220.8370:

• Sign in to the device using a local account
• Launch an elevated Command Prompt and initiate the upgrade by running Clipupgrade.exe
• Sign in with your K–12 organization account to validate eligibility
• The device prepares the upgrade and completes after a restart

Microsoft further adds that the upgrade is one-way only. In other words, reverting to Windows Home is not supported without a clean OS reinstall.

Additionally, Microsoft has improved the reliability of Japanese IME usage when Administrator Protection is enabled. The company has also fixed a WPN hang issue from the previous flight, which reportedly caused notification problems and certain apps to hang during launch.

Moving on, Microsoft improved the reliability of loading desktop app icon shortcuts, which should help reduce inconsistencies some Insiders may have experienced recently.

As a reminder, Microsoft has also released Build 26300.8376, 28020.2075, and 29585.1000 in the Experimental, Experimental (26H1), and Experimental (Future Platforms) channels, respectively.