Downgrading XP Pro to Home

[Stephen]

Is it possible to downgrade Win XP Pro to Home, that is without starting
from scratch?

The reason I ask is that a student family friend needed help with her
computer. The immediate problem was fairly easily fixed. However, I noticed
that the COA sticker was for XP Home but what is installed is XP Pro. She
has the original Home (OEM) installation disc and valid product key. It
appears that someone at her college, helping when things went badly wrong,
installed XP Pro with what I assume is an invalid product key. Now I know it
is possible to change the product key on an installation so as to legitimise
it. However, I assume that the original product key would only be valid for
a Home installation, not Pro.

 

[Ron Badour]

Not that I am aware of.

 

[Clark]

Is it possible to downgrade Win XP Pro to Home, that is without
starting from scratch?

The reason I ask is that a student family friend needed help with her
computer. The immediate problem was fairly easily fixed. However, I
noticed that the COA sticker was for XP Home but what is installed is
XP Pro. She has the original Home (OEM) installation disc and valid
product key. It appears that someone at her college, helping when
things went badly wrong, installed XP Pro with what I assume is an
invalid product key. Now I know it is possible to change the product
key on an installation so as to legitimise it. However, I assume that
the original product key would only be valid for a Home installation,
not Pro.

I could swear I have done this in the past by booting from the CD, yada
yada.

I work on hundreds of PC's every year, and searching the internet says no
you can't.
It is not as easy as just putting in the CD though, I may have wiped out the
Windows Dir.
then installed.

Crap
sorry I guess I'm not helping.

Clark

 

[Guest]

Visit the Windows Genuine Adantage site to see if the copy is valid:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/WhyValidate.aspx

If it is genuine, then you can obtain the Product Key using one of the many
available freeware tools.

If it's not genuine, I'd suggest trying a repair install with the XPHome
disk - but haven't tried this, so I can't be sure that it'd work.

- John

 

[Stephen]

Ron,

I feared that would be the answer. So, the alternative to starting from
scratch (and facing not only the task of reinstalling programs but also
setting them up to work as required!) could be to buy a copy of XP Pro. The
question is, which version? I know, for example, that an OEM disk is
incompatible with XP that was installed from a retail CD. But what about the
other way round? I don't know what disk was used to install from - is there
any way of finding out? And what about upgrade (as against full) retail? Or
student/teacher versions?

Thanks,
Stephen

 

[Clark]

Ron,

I feared that would be the answer. So, the alternative to starting
from scratch (and facing not only the task of reinstalling programs
but also setting them up to work as required!) could be to buy a copy
of XP Pro. The question is, which version? I know, for example, that
an OEM disk is incompatible with XP that was installed from a retail
CD. But what about the other way round? I don't know what disk was
used to install from - is there any way of finding out? And what
about upgrade (as against full) retail? Or student/teacher versions?

Thanks,
Stephen

You can do a repair install of XP pro with OEM or retail, but retail you
can legally install it on your PC then the next PC you buy etc,
as long as the software is removed from the other PC's first, in other words
you can legally take your product code with you as long as it is installed
on only one PC at a time.
Technically with OEM it is "married" to your to the original PC and should
not be moved to another PC.
(workaround is to say your motherboard fried and it was under warranty)


Clark

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Stephen,

You will have whip the drive and perform a clean install of XP Home.
XP Clean Install:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

File & Settings Transfer Wizard may be of help.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.php


Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is it possible to downgrade Win XP Pro to Home, that is without starting
from scratch?

No. Downgrades are never supported. The only way to go from
Professional to Home is by a clean installation.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Is it possible to downgrade Win XP Pro to Home, that is without starting
from scratch?

The reason I ask is that a student family friend needed help with her
computer. The immediate problem was fairly easily fixed. However, I noticed
that the COA sticker was for XP Home but what is installed is XP Pro. She
has the original Home (OEM) installation disc and valid product key. It
appears that someone at her college, helping when things went badly wrong,
installed XP Pro with what I assume is an invalid product key. Now I know it
is possible to change the product key on an installation so as to legitimise
it. However, I assume that the original product key would only be valid for
a Home installation, not Pro.

No. I'm afraid that the only way to change from WinXP Pro to WinXP
Home is to format the drive and start over. There is no supported
downgrade path or technique.

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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