downgradinbg

[JB]

I need to install XP Home and for that I understand that I need to format
disk as at the moment I have XP Professional (which appears to be illegal).

When I installed the XP Prof I had a lot of trouble installing the printer
and the scanner. Is there a way of copying the necessary files, so that all
I have to do is to put them back after the reinstall?~

Thank you

~JB

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/28/2010 4:43 AM On a whim, JB pounded out on the keyboard

I need to install XP Home and for that I understand that I need to format
disk as at the moment I have XP Professional (which appears to be illegal).

When I installed the XP Prof I had a lot of trouble installing the printer
and the scanner. Is there a way of copying the necessary files, so that all
I have to do is to put them back after the reinstall?~

Thank you

~JB

Hi JB,

You should be able to do everything in XP Pro as you can in XP Home, and
more. The only reason is you don't have the proper drivers most likely.

Go to the device manufacturers website and do a search on the model
number of your hardware. You should be able to download the correct
driver for all of them.

And save yourself the time of reinstalling the OS.


Terry R.

 

[JB]

Thanks, but I think you misunderstoo«d my message. I must unistall XP Pro
because it is an illegal copy (apparently) and as I cannot reinstall XP Home
without formatting the disk, I am going to lose information that I had
troublke getting in the past. I wonder if there is a method for backing up
the drivers of the printer and scanner.

JB

 

[C]

Thanks, but I think you misunderstoo«d my message. I must unistall XP Pro
because it is an illegal copy (apparently)

How do you know? Did you check it out here:

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/

 

[Lem]

How do you know? Did you check it out here:

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/

The usual advice is to go to the website(s) of the appropriate hardware
manufactuer(s) and download the latest drivers. In your case, you would
copy them to some external medium (e.g., burn them to CD or use a USB
memory stick).

There are some shareware apps that allow you to copy the current
drivers, but I've never used them. Google copy drivers or similar and
you'll find a bunch. Here are 2 that seem to have trial offers:
http://www.emergingtechs.com/posts/how-copy-windows-drivers-one-computer-another/
http://www.driverguidetoolkit.com/

 

[VanguardLH]

Thanks, but I think you misunderstoo«d my message. I must unistall XP Pro
because it is an illegal copy (apparently) and as I cannot reinstall XP Home
without formatting the disk, I am going to lose information that I had
troublke getting in the past. I wonder if there is a method for backing up
the drivers of the printer and scanner.

Copying the driver files is not sufficient for registering those drivers to
the correct device. That is performed through the registry (and also with a
hardware scan to match new hardware with the .inf or other driver files).
You must *install* the drivers, not just copy the files.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/28/2010 7:49 AM On a whim, JB pounded out on the keyboard

Thanks, but I think you misunderstoo«d my message. I must unistall XP Pro
because it is an illegal copy (apparently) and as I cannot reinstall XP Home
without formatting the disk, I am going to lose information that I had
troublke getting in the past. I wonder if there is a method for backing up
the drivers of the printer and scanner.

JB

Well for one, have a backup of all your data that has been "verified" as
complete.

Then do as I said above for all add on devices. I would go to the
computer maker web site and download all the drivers you need for your
computer hardware.



Terry R.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I need to install XP Home and for that I understand that I need to format
disk as at the moment I have XP Professional (which appears to be illegal).

Yes, you will have to do a clean install in this case.

When I installed the XP Prof I had a lot of trouble installing the printer
and the scanner. Is there a way of copying the necessary files, so that
all I have to do is to put them back after the reinstall?~

No, and that's asking for trouble. Get the right drivers and install them
properly.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I need to install XP Home and for that I understand that I need to format
disk as at the moment I have XP Professional (which appears to be illegal).

When I installed the XP Prof I had a lot of trouble installing the printer
and the scanner. Is there a way of copying the necessary files, so that
all I have to do is to put them back after the reinstall?~

Thank you

~JB

Also, you may find that the best approach is to get a new hard disk - where
I am, 500 gig drives are about $60 - and set the XP Pro drive aside. Use
it as your backup.

 

[Fuzzy]

I need to install XP Home and for that I understand that I need to format
disk as at the moment I have XP Professional (which appears to be illegal).

When I installed the XP Prof I had a lot of trouble installing the printer
and the scanner. Is there a way of copying the necessary files, so that all
I have to do is to put them back after the reinstall?~

Thank you

~JB

Have you considered just purchasing a legal product key from Microsoft.
If that is not possible then you should consider going to the problem
hardware's manufacturer's website and download the appropriate drivers
and software if available from the manufacturers website. As for the
data that may be lost it is always a good idea to make backups of all
the personal data that you want to keep for future use.