Changing Operating System

[yeager65]

I was given a computer from my office, but I need to get rid of XP
Pro, which is the current operating system that is licensed to my
company. I am going to buy XP Home and install that. What is the
best way to do this?
Thanks for the help.

 

[Alias]

I was given a computer from my office, but I need to get rid of XP
Pro, which is the current operating system that is licensed to my
company. I am going to buy XP Home and install that. What is the
best way to do this?
Thanks for the help.

Why do you want to get rid of Pro? The only way to replace Pro with Home
is to do a clean install.

 

[Guest]

Windows XP Home Edition does not have a method to install *from* Windows XP
Professional.

Your best bet is to format the hard drive and start a fresh installation of
Windows XP Home Edition

 

[yeager65]

Why do you want to get rid of Pro? The only way to replace Pro with Home
is to do a clean install.

In order for them to let me take the computer, they want me to get rid
of the company software, which is Pro. I am giving this computer to my
father who would not know the difference anyway. His computer just
died and he is due for a new one anyway.
By clean install, can I just insert the XP home disk and install? it
will wipe out Pro?
Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Why do you want to get rid of Pro? The only way to replace Pro with Home
is to do a clean install.

He stated that he only has a license of XP Pro which is owned by their
company. He would like to purchase his own licensed copy of Windows XP and
he has chosen Home Edition. This is perfectly acceptable. Perhaps a better
question might be, "Why not purchase a licensed copy of Windows XP
Professional?"

 

[John John]

I was given a computer from my office, but I need to get rid of XP
Pro, which is the current operating system that is licensed to my
company. I am going to buy XP Home and install that. What is the
best way to do this?
Thanks for the help.

Start the computer and go in the BIOS and change the boot order so that
the computer boots to the CD before the hard drive. Then put the XP
Home cd in the drive and boot the computer. After you press F8 to
accept the EULA you will be presented with a list of available disks and
partitions on which you can install XP Home. If there is only one
partition available highlight it and select to do a full format on it
then install Home on the partition. All the files on the partition will
be erased and lost. If there is more than one partition you can format
the partition on which XP is installed or you can delete all the
partitions then create and format a new one for XP. If you delete and
create new partitions exit the setup program after you create them and
restart the setup again, that will avoid drive mixups. like having
Windows end up on a partition other than C:\. It pretty
straightforward, just read and follow the on screen instructions.

John

PS Ask your company if they have driver disks for the computer, it could
save you from having to run around looking for the proper drivers for
your hardware.

 

[Guest]

Short answer: yes

Longer answer: Boot up the computer with the Windows XP Home Edition CD in
the CD drive. Assuming your bios is set to boot from the CD, it should begin
the installation automatically. After a few moments (right after you agree
on to the OEM agreement) you should see a prompt asking you if you want to
install on the existing partition, or you can delete the partition and create
a new one, then install a fresh copy of Windows XP Home Edition on the new
partition. I recommend doing this. That way you are assured of a clean
installation.

 

[John John]

He stated that he only has a license of XP Pro which is owned by their
company. He would like to purchase his own licensed copy of Windows XP and
he has chosen Home Edition. This is perfectly acceptable. Perhaps a better
question might be, "Why not purchase a licensed copy of Windows XP
Professional?"

Maybe because he doesn't want to pay twice as much for features that he
most likely won't use in a home computer?

John

 

[Guest]

See John's post. It explained it even better.

 

[Guest]

Maybe because he doesn't want to pay twice as much for features that he
most likely won't use in a home computer?

John

Excellent response, John. I would certainly accept that over a rationale
for piracy, which is what I suspect Alias was eluding to.

 

[Ken Blake]

In order for them to let me take the computer, they want me to get rid
of the company software, which is Pro. I am giving this computer to my
father who would not know the difference anyway. His computer just
died and he is due for a new one anyway.
By clean install, can I just insert the XP home disk and install?

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary to
accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the
existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

it
will wipe out Pro?

It will wipe out *everything* on the drive. If there's anything you need to
keep, back it up to external media first.

 

[caver1]

Excellent response, John. I would certainly accept that over a rationale
for piracy, which is what I suspect Alias was eluding to.

Thats why I bought the media center edition.You get Pro at a price that
was only $40-50 more than home and close to $100 less than Pro. Don't
know if they are still doing that or not.
caver1

 

[Ken Blake]

Thats why I bought the media center edition.You get Pro at a price that
was only $40-50 more than home and close to $100 less than Pro. Don't know
if they are still doing that or not.

That's a good deal if you don't need the ability to join a domain (which MCE
doesn't have) and you *do* need the other features in Professional and MCE
that are not in Home. If you don't need or want those extra features, it's a
waste of that $40-50 Most home users don't need those features and would
never use them anyway.

 

[Phisherman]

I was given a computer from my office, but I need to get rid of XP
Pro, which is the current operating system that is licensed to my
company. I am going to buy XP Home and install that. What is the
best way to do this?
Thanks for the help.

Backup what you need to save. Fdisk and format the drive, set the
CMOS to boot from the CD, put the WinXPHome CD into the drive, and
boot. For there, you can do a clean install. You can buy WinXP Home
from numerous places. The OEM version is the lowest price (about $70)
but may require a small hardware purchase with it. If money is no
object get XP Pro.

 

[Alias]

Excellent response, John. I would certainly accept that over a rationale
for piracy, which is what I suspect Alias was eluding to.

No, I wasn't. I didn't realize the company wanted to keep the license. I
do not advocate piracy, casual or professional. If one cannot afford
software, there's a good chance that something comparable is available
from Open Source, so why steal?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I was given a computer from my office, but I need to get rid of XP
Pro, which is the current operating system that is licensed to my
company. I am going to buy XP Home and install that. What is the
best way to do this?
Thanks for the help.

After backing up any data you wish to transfer to the new OS
installation,, simply boot from the WinXP Home installation CD. You'll
be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as
part of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order
of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Then the backed up data can be restored and applications re-installed.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[sdlomi2]

In order for them to let me take the computer, they want me to get rid
of the company software, which is Pro. I am giving this computer to my
father who would not know the difference anyway. His computer just
died and he is due for a new one anyway.
By clean install, can I just insert the XP home disk and install? it
will wipe out Pro?
Thanks.

I still think you oughta remove the company's software & keep going
w/the XP Pro. After all, it's software they were concerned with! Plus,
you'll prolly have to buy an XP Home OS to install! If it were me, I'd be
happy w/your just removing my software--which I'd have done before turning
it over to you. But, then, I'd have no CRITICAL s'ware on it to begin with.
Else, I'd destroy the orig. harddrive to ensure critical info would not be
recovered. HTH, s

 

[John John]

I still think you oughta remove the company's software & keep going
w/the XP Pro. After all, it's software they were concerned with! Plus,
you'll prolly have to buy an XP Home OS to install! If it were me, I'd be
happy w/your just removing my software--which I'd have done before turning
it over to you. But, then, I'd have no CRITICAL s'ware on it to begin with.
Else, I'd destroy the orig. harddrive to ensure critical info would not be
recovered. HTH, s

It's the company's license and they want to keep it, they may want to
use it on another computer. They gave him the pc but told him that he
*had* to remove the XP license, the company doesn't want him using their
license. He doesn't need pro so he is opting to install the cheaper
Home version which will do all that he wants for a home computer. What
is it that folks don't understand about the user's intentions? Are you
suggesting that he should engage in piracy instead of replacing the OS?

John