xp home to xp pro volume license

[Guest]

I want to upgrade a dell system with xp home edition to xp pro using a volume
license cd. I get the invalid key error when attempting to enter a valid cd
key.

Any ideas? Can I upgrade a OEM xp home edition system from Dell with a full
version of xp pro that uses a volume license key (I can't imagen that I
can't)?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

To my knowledge the only "upgrade" to Pro from Home was the Microsoft
step-up, but it's only available for 30 days or so after the purchase of a
new PC with Home on it. I'm not even sure if Microsoft still offers the
program.

However...I would recommend that you reload XP Pro from scratch on the Home
PC. Make sure you have drivers, etc at hand if you need them. I assume you
want to install Pro to use on your domain?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

To my knowledge the only "upgrade" to Pro from Home was the Microsoft
step-up, but it's only available for 30 days or so after the purchase
of a new PC with Home on it. I'm not even sure if Microsoft still
offers the program.

No, this isn't correct. Any retail Full or Upgrade XP Professional CD will
work to upgrade from Home. Only an OEM version will not.

However...I would recommend that you reload XP Pro from scratch on
the Home PC. Make sure you have drivers, etc at hand if you need
them. I assume you want to install Pro to use on your domain?

On the contrary, I recommend the upgrade. Unlike with previous versions of
Windows, an upgrade to XP replaces almost everything, and usually works very
well.

Moreover the upgrade from Home to Professional is the easiest and most
likely successful of all possible upgrades, since there is so little
difference between the two versions.

My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much easier
than a clean installation. You can always change your mind and reinstall
cleanly if problems develop.

However, don't assume that doing an upgrade relieves you of the need to
backup your data, etc. before beginning. Before starting to upgrade, it's
always prudent to recognize that things like a sudden power loss can occur
in the middle of it and cause the loss of everything. For that reason you
should make sure you have backups and anything else you need to reinstall if
the worst happens.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

From whom did you acquire a Volume License
Windows XP CD and Product Key? A VL is
normally available only to business enterprises
and not individuals.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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:

| I want to upgrade a dell system with xp home edition to xp pro using a volume
| license cd. I get the invalid key error when attempting to enter a valid cd
| key.
|
| Any ideas? Can I upgrade a OEM xp home edition system from Dell with a full
| version of xp pro that uses a volume license key (I can't imagen that I
| can't)?
|
| Thanks.

 

[Guest]

It is our business key, and it worked after the fourth try, it may just have
been a typo. There is so mcuh tech articles on this, so I really wasn't sure
if it worked.

thanks anyway.