Windows

Setting up Windows 11 Pro and Office 2024 on one PC

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Install and activate Windows 11 Pro first, run Windows Update until nothing is left, remove any Office that came with the PC, and only then install Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024. In that order each product goes on cleanly. If the Office installer stops on a new PC, look for a preinstalled Microsoft 365 trial first. If a Pro key seems not to work, check whether Setup installed Home.

The steps work for a clean installation and for a PC that already runs Windows 11 Home. Allow a couple of hours, most of it spent waiting for downloads.

What to have ready

  • A USB stick of 8 GB or more that can be wiped, if you’re doing a clean installation
  • Your Windows 11 Pro product key
  • Your Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 product key
  • A Microsoft account
  • A backup of anything on the PC you want to keep

Windows 11 needs a compatible 64-bit processor with two or more cores, TPM 2.0, UEFI firmware that supports Secure Boot, 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage. Any PC sold with Windows 11 already meets those requirements.

Windows first

Make the installation USB

If you’re keeping the existing Windows 11 Home installation and upgrading it in place, skip this step and the next one and start at the activation step.

While the PC’s current Windows still runs, go to Microsoft’s Download Windows 11 page and download the Media Creation Tool from the Create Windows 11 Installation Media section. Run it, choose your language and select the USB stick. The tool downloads Windows 11 and makes the stick bootable. The same media installs both Home and Pro.

Install Windows 11

Restart with the USB stick plugged in and open the boot menu. The key depends on the manufacturer, usually F12, F11, F8 or Esc, and it tends to flash on screen as the PC starts. Choose the USB stick from the list.

When Setup asks for a product key, enter the Pro key or choose I don’t have a product key and add it later. On a clean installation, delete the old partitions on the target drive so Windows gets the whole disk, once you’re sure the backup is complete.

A PC that came with Windows 11 Home has the Home key stored in its firmware, and Setup often installs Home without offering a choice. Let it finish. Switching to Pro from the desktop takes a few minutes and needs no reinstall.

Sign in with your Microsoft account during setup, since it makes the activation step simpler.

Activate Windows 11 Pro and link the licence

Go to Settings > System > Activation and select Change next to Change product key. Enter the Windows 11 Pro key. On a Home installation this upgrades the PC to Pro in place and restarts it. On Pro it activates.

Then make sure the licence is linked to your Microsoft account. The status should read Windows is activated with a digital licence linked to your Microsoft account. If it doesn’t mention the account, select Add an account. Microsoft’s reactivation guide explains that linking the account “allows you to reactivate Windows using the Activation troubleshooter” after a hardware change. If activation fails, our list of Windows 11 activation errors explains each code.

Run Windows Update until nothing is left

Go to Settings > Windows Update, select Check for updates, install everything, restart and check again. Repeat until Windows reports that you’re up to date. On a fresh installation that can take three or four rounds. Then open Advanced options > Optional updates and install the driver updates listed there, particularly for graphics, Wi-Fi and the chipset.

Check the version in Settings > System > About. Windows 11 version 26H2 is the current release, out since 29 September 2026. A PC on 24H2, which reached end of servicing for Home and Pro on 13 October 2026, should move to 26H2, so turn on Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available on the Windows Update page and check again.

Finishing the updates before Office goes on means no update restart interrupts the Office installation halfway through.

Office second

Remove the Office the PC came with

Many new PCs ship with a Microsoft 365 trial installed, often in several languages. It has to come off before Office LTSC 2024 goes on, because Office LTSC 2024 can only use the PerpetualVL2024 update channel and every Office product on a PC has to use the same one. Our guide to Office LTSC 2024 and Microsoft 365 on one PC explains the rule.

Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps and search for Microsoft 365, then for Office, then for OneNote. Uninstall every entry, including those ending in a language code such as en-gb or fr-fr, and any older version of Office. Restart once they’re all gone.

Install Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024

Office LTSC installs with the Office Deployment Tool. Download the tool from Microsoft, extract it to a folder called ODT on the C drive, save a configuration.xml file with your product key in that folder, and run the setup command from a Command Prompt opened as administrator. For this PC the configuration file needs no more than this.

xml

<Configuration>
  <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="PerpetualVL2024">
    <Product ID="ProPlus2024Volume" PIDKEY="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX">
      <Language ID="en-gb" />
    </Product>
  </Add>
  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="1" />
  <Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
</Configuration>

Then run the installation.

cd C:\ODT
setup.exe /configure configuration.xml

Our Office Deployment Tool guide explains each line of the file, how to add Project or Visio, and what to do if setup stops.

Check that Office is activated

Open Word and go to File > Account. Under Product Information it should say Product Activated and Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024. If Word asks for activation instead, the Office Deployment Tool guide shows how to activate from the command line with ospp.vbs.

Finishing the PC

Turn on BitLocker

If the manufacturer offers a firmware update for the PC, install it first. Then search the Start menu for Manage BitLocker. On many new PCs Windows has already switched on encryption during setup, in which case the page shows BitLocker as on. If it’s off, select Turn on BitLocker for the system drive.

Either way, check where the recovery key is saved and keep a copy somewhere other than the PC itself, such as your Microsoft account, a printout or a USB stick kept somewhere safe. A firmware update or a hardware change can make BitLocker ask for the key at startup, and without it the files on the drive can’t be read.

BitLocker is one of the features that comes with Pro. Our comparison of Windows 11 Home and Pro covers the others, including Remote Desktop and Hyper-V.

Create a restore point

Search for Create a restore point, select the system drive, choose Configure, turn on system protection and then select Create. It gives you a clean point to go back to if a later change goes wrong.

Add Teams if you use it

Teams isn’t part of Office LTSC 2024. Download it from Microsoft separately if your business uses it.

Both licences for this setup come together in the Windows 11 Pro and Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 bundle, listed under our bundles. They’re also sold separately as Windows 11 Pro and Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024.

Sources

Newer
What Project Professional 2024 adds over Project Standard 2024
Back to list
Older Windows 11 activation errors, what each code means and what to try

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