XP Home to XP Pro

[Clayton]

I have a system with XP Home installed on it and now it's turned to custard,
instead of doing a repair install to get back up and running again, could I
upgrade at this stage with XP Pro? I tried booting from the Pro CD but it
will not allow a repair nor does it give me an option of upgrading. I want
to be able to retain all of my programs and documents and settings. How is
this done?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You'll have to repair your XP Home installation before
you can upgrade to Windows XP Pro. Otherwise, you'll
need to wipe your drive clean (reformat) and perform a
clean install of XP Pro.

Note: Only "retail versions" of XP Pro can upgrade over
XP Home. If you acquired an "OEM version", it must be
installed on a clean, reformatted drive.

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| I have a system with XP Home installed on it and now it's turned to custard,
| instead of doing a repair install to get back up and running again, could I
| upgrade at this stage with XP Pro? I tried booting from the Pro CD but it
| will not allow a repair nor does it give me an option of upgrading. I want
| to be able to retain all of my programs and documents and settings. How is
| this done?

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a system with XP Home installed on it and now it's turned to custard,
instead of doing a repair install to get back up and running again, could I
upgrade at this stage with XP Pro? I tried booting from the Pro CD but it
will not allow a repair nor does it give me an option of upgrading. I want
to be able to retain all of my programs and documents and settings

An upgrade would mean having the Home system in a good enough state to
be able to boot it and then run the Pro CD from it to upgrade. You
could only repair the Home system with a retail Home CD.

As to bringing forward settings, you would again need to be able to boot
the system, given that read Gary Woodruff's article on Files and
settings Transfer at http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm