Upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro

[Ken Gash]

I just got a new computer with XP Home, SP2 preloaded. My trusty old
Gateway finally blew its HD so I recycled it. It was running XP Pro and
I still have the XP Pro CD. Can I now upgrade the new machine with this
disk (it is not an upgrade disk) from Home to Pro without having to do a
clean install and then reinstall the apps?

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

I just got a new computer with XP Home, SP2 preloaded. My trusty old
Gateway finally blew its HD so I recycled it. It was running XP Pro and
I still have the XP Pro CD. Can I now upgrade the new machine with this
disk (it is not an upgrade disk) from Home to Pro without having to do a
clean install and then reinstall the apps?

Ken,

As long as the Gateway disks is NOT and OEM CD (so it dd not come with the
PC and IS a retail CD) and it is already slipstreamed with SP2 then you will
be able to do an inplace upgrade.


--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

 

[Tom]

I just got a new computer with XP Home, SP2 preloaded. My trusty old
Gateway finally blew its HD so I recycled it. It was running XP Pro and
I still have the XP Pro CD. Can I now upgrade the new machine with this
disk (it is not an upgrade disk) from Home to Pro without having to do a
clean install and then reinstall the apps?

If your disk is OEM (not retail), then you cannot upgrade (Upgrade and Full
versions in retail can do an upgrade), only clean install. Also, if your Pro
disk doesn't have SP2 included, it will not install at all (other than
formatting totally, then installing it), since it will see Home as a newer
version than Pro.

If your disk is retail, you can make a slipstreamed disk of Pro to include
SP2, and then upgrade.

How toSlipstream SP2:
http://www.neowin.net/articles.php?action=more&id=94

Autostreamer will do this for you, and it is virtually fool proof, download
from here:

http://www.autopatcher.com/autostreamer.html

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I just got a new computer with XP Home, SP2 preloaded. My
trusty old
Gateway finally blew its HD so I recycled it. It was running
XP Pro
and I still have the XP Pro CD. Can I now upgrade the new
machine
with this disk (it is not an upgrade disk) from Home to Pro
without
having to do a clean install and then reinstall the apps?

The answer as to whether you can do it *at all* depends on
whether it's an OEM CD or not. If it came with the Gateway, it's
an OEM CD. Even if you bought it yourself separately, it might be
an OEM CD.

If it's an OEM version, its license ties it permanently to the
first computer it's installed on. It can never legally be moved
to another computer, sold, or given away. So you can not legally
do this with an OEM Version. And it came with the Gateway, it may
be BIOS-locked to it, and it might not even be possible to use on
the new computer, regardless of the legality.

If it's a retail CD, you can use it to upgrade from Home to
Professional, whether it's an Upgrade or a Full version. If it
doesn't incorporate SP2, you'll first have to make a slipstreamed
copy of the CD, with SP2 incorporated; otherwise the upgrade will
fail, telling you you're trying to install an older version over
a newer one.

However, before you even bother doing upgrading, first consider
whether you really need to. It's probably not worth the trouble.
XP Professional and XP Home are exactly the same in all respects,
except that Professional has a few features (mostly related to
networking and security) missing from Home. For most (but not
all) home users, even those with a home network, these features
aren't needed, would never be used.
For details go to

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Also note that Professional allows ten concurrent network
connections, and Home only five.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

AutoStreamer is slick.

 

[Ken Gash]

Thanks for all your information. I think I'll take the advice to stick
with the nice clean XP Home that I have on the new machine rather than
going through all the trouble to get some features that I don't really
need.

Thanks again.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Thanks for all your information. I think I'll take the advice
to stick
with the nice clean XP Home that I have on the new machine
rather than
going through all the trouble to get some features that I don't
really
need.

Thanks again.

You're welcome. Glad to help.