Have Win XP Home pitfalls of XP Pro upgrade?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Perry
  • Start date Start date
J

John Perry

I have just bought a new laptop with Win XP Home, and I am not happy
about the sharing capabilities and want the features on Windows 2000, so
I am considering a Win XP Pro Upgrade.

Any comments? Normally I don't like doing upgrades and would rather to
a fresh install on a formatted HD. Am I likely to lose and of my Office
features or get any program malfunctions if I do this upgrade.

Comments much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Hi,

Upgrading from Home to Pro on a normally-working system is pretty much
uneventful. Installed programs and settings should remain intact, the only
difference should be the availability of Pro's features that you are looking
for. It is always advisable to backup critical data before any upgrade no
matter how simple it may be.

There is no reason whatsoever that you would need to do a clean
installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
In
John Perry said:
I have just bought a new laptop with Win XP Home, and I am not happy
about the sharing capabilities and want the features on Windows 2000,
so I am considering a Win XP Pro Upgrade.

Any comments? Normally I don't like doing upgrades and would rather
to a fresh install on a formatted HD.
Click to expand...


Unlike upgrades to previous versions of Windows, upgrades to XP
replace almost everything and usually work very well. Especially
in this case, since XP Home and Professional are so similar, it's
the easiest and most-likely-successful of all possible upgrades.

Am I likely to lose and of my
Office features or get any program malfunctions if I do this
Click to expand...
upgrade.


No, it's very unlikely. By definition, an "upgrade" (as opposed
to a clean installation) means that all data, programs, etc. are
kept intact.

However there are no guarantees that it always works perfectly.
However unlikely, it's always possible that something might go
wrong. For that reason it's prudent to be sure you have a backup
of anything you can't afford to lose before beginning.
 
Check with the laptop manufacturer to see if they will
exchange your computer or support the upgrade. If the
computer runs XP Home it will run XP Pro, but laptops often
have proprietary drivers which a retail upgrade might
over-write. A clean install from a retail XP CD certainly
would not have all the laptop drivers.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| I have just bought a new laptop with Win XP Home, and I am
not happy
| about the sharing capabilities and want the features on
Windows 2000, so
| I am considering a Win XP Pro Upgrade.
|
| Any comments? Normally I don't like doing upgrades and
would rather to
| a fresh install on a formatted HD. Am I likely to lose
and of my Office
| features or get any program malfunctions if I do this
upgrade.
|
| Comments much appreciated.
|
| Thanks
| --
| (e-mail address removed) (delete NOSPAM)
| www.redoak.co.uk www.eze-buy.co.uk
 
Ken Blake said:
In


Unlike upgrades to previous versions of Windows, upgrades to XP
replace almost everything and usually work very well. Especially
in this case, since XP Home and Professional are so similar, it's
the easiest and most-likely-successful of all possible upgrades.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the tips. I'll use drive image to back up the C drive
and then do the XP Pro upgrade.

regards
 
John said:
Any comments? Normally I don't like doing upgrades and would rather to
a fresh install on a formatted HD. Am I likely to lose and of my Office
features or get any program malfunctions if I do this upgrade.
Click to expand...

Upgrade of home to Pro with a regular Upgrade CD (as for upgrading
Win200) is very straightforward, you just run the CD from the present
system and take install, continuing with Upgrade. Always back up
critical data just in case, but apart from one of two minor settings
going back to default you would not notice.

One caveat though - some laptops use highly proprietary hardware and
need a custom version of the system. Notably HP/Compaq. So check with
the makers on that point
 
In
John Perry said:
Thanks for all the tips. I'll use drive image to back up the C drive
and then do the XP Pro upgrade.
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help.
 
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