Luigi said:
I have a PC running Win XP Pro and I need to substitute it with Win
XP Home....If I run the Installation CD it tells me that upgrade
from Pro to Home is not allowed....so I can Install Home
substituting Pro...But am I going to lose all installed programs?
Do any of you know about?...any suggestion is well
accepted...thanks...
Windows XP Professional edition to Windows XP Home Edition is a "downgrade".
In order to perform a "downgrade", you must either perform a parallel
installation (on the same partition or on another partition on the system -
which is really not a downgrade - but sharing the computer) or a clean
installation (all data aand applications are removed from the computer -
nothing is left - the new OS is installed and then you must patch and
install your applications again - restoring your data from your most current
backup set.)
The only reasons to "downgrade" from Windows XP Professional to Windows XP
Home I can think of are:
- have an illegal copy of Windows XP Professional on the machien and want
to go legitimate - but Home is cheaper.
- old work laptop/computer (now yours) so the copy is no longer legitimate
for you and Home was cheaper.
- You have a retail copy (did not come installed on the system - is not
labeled "OEM") of Windows XP Professional and wish to use it on another
computer - so you wan tto uninstall it from this one and install on
another - and Home was cheaper.
- You have lost the installation media for the laptop, didn't know the
difference (HOME vs PRO) at the time - bought the cheapest version of
Windows XP you could find (HOME - possibly even OEM) and now discover there
is a difference.
I suppose there could be variations on each of those - and in many ways -
some of them already are variations.
You lose some features (admittedly you may not use them - but if you already
own Windows XP Professional..) when you go from Professional "down to"
Windows XP Home edition. Since this is a move "down" - you cannot save much
from one install and get it to work on the other. You could save your
profile/settings using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.. But you
will have to reinstall all patches/updates/drivers/applications/games after
you install the OS.