B
Bryan C
I have a client who has home edition installed. Can I do
an inplace upgrade to WIN XP Pro without losing everything.
thanks
an inplace upgrade to WIN XP Pro without losing everything.
thanks
M
Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)
If the question is, can you do it without risking losing everything the
answer is no. If the question is can you do it without losing everything,
the answer is usually.
Meaning, no operation is foolproof and that especially applies to an
operating system installation. Even though this is an upgrade, all
precautions should be taken to ensure the user's data is well backed up.
Note, assuming success, the user's data may be there but might not be
accessible. This is a file ownership issue related to the NTFS file system.
This can be remedied as follows:
**I know you are installing Pro and the instructions below for Pro apply to
your situation. I'm posting both the Home and Pro instructions because any
time I leave one out, someone else on the board invariably asks for the
other in the same thread.
.. Note, file ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. How
you resolve it depends upon which version of XP you are running.
XP-Home
Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.
However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.
If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.
Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.
Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.
Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.
XP-Pro
If you have XP Pro, temporarily change the limited account to
administrative. First, go to Windows Explorer, go to Tools, select Folder
Options, go to the View tab and be sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is not
selected. If it is, deselect it and click apply and ok.
If you wish everything in a specific folder to be accessible to a user,
right click the folder, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
Advanced, go to the Owner tab,
select the user you wish to have access, at the bottom of the box, you
should see a check box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,"
place a check in the box and click apply and ok.
The user should now be able to perform necessary functions on files in the
folder even as a limited account. If not, make it an admin account again,
right click the folder, select Properties, go to the Security tab and be
sure the user is listed in the user list. If not, click add and type the
user name in the appropriate box, be sure the user has all the necessary
permissions checked in the permission list below the user list, click apply
and ok.
That should do it and allow whatever access you desire for that folder even
in a limited account.
answer is no. If the question is can you do it without losing everything,
the answer is usually.
Meaning, no operation is foolproof and that especially applies to an
operating system installation. Even though this is an upgrade, all
precautions should be taken to ensure the user's data is well backed up.
Note, assuming success, the user's data may be there but might not be
accessible. This is a file ownership issue related to the NTFS file system.
This can be remedied as follows:
**I know you are installing Pro and the instructions below for Pro apply to
your situation. I'm posting both the Home and Pro instructions because any
time I leave one out, someone else on the board invariably asks for the
other in the same thread.
.. Note, file ownership and permissions supersede administrator rights. How
you resolve it depends upon which version of XP you are running.
XP-Home
Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.
However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.
If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.
Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.
Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.
Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.
XP-Pro
If you have XP Pro, temporarily change the limited account to
administrative. First, go to Windows Explorer, go to Tools, select Folder
Options, go to the View tab and be sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is not
selected. If it is, deselect it and click apply and ok.
If you wish everything in a specific folder to be accessible to a user,
right click the folder, select properties, go to the Security tab, click
Advanced, go to the Owner tab,
select the user you wish to have access, at the bottom of the box, you
should see a check box for "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects,"
place a check in the box and click apply and ok.
The user should now be able to perform necessary functions on files in the
folder even as a limited account. If not, make it an admin account again,
right click the folder, select Properties, go to the Security tab and be
sure the user is listed in the user list. If not, click add and type the
user name in the appropriate box, be sure the user has all the necessary
permissions checked in the permission list below the user list, click apply
and ok.
That should do it and allow whatever access you desire for that folder even
in a limited account.
C
Chris Lanier
yes, just purchase a Windows XP Professional Update
K
Ken Blake
In
Yes. There is no special upgrade version just for this, but the
regular XP Professional Upgrade works fine (although it doesn't
say so on the box).
By definition, an "upgrade" (as opposed to a clean installation)
means that all data, programs, etc. are kept intact.
However there are no guarantees. However unlikely, it's always
possible that something might go wrong. For that reason it's
prudent to be sure you have a backup of anything you can't afford
to lose before beginning.
Bryan C said:
Yes. There is no special upgrade version just for this, but the
regular XP Professional Upgrade works fine (although it doesn't
say so on the box).
By definition, an "upgrade" (as opposed to a clean installation)
means that all data, programs, etc. are kept intact.
However there are no guarantees. However unlikely, it's always
possible that something might go wrong. For that reason it's
prudent to be sure you have a backup of anything you can't afford
to lose before beginning.