How to reinstall original Wind. XP Home Edit. & Remove Windows XP

[Guest]

I loaned my Toshiba Satellite A-105 laptop out to a friend. He installed
Windows XP Professional on it. I want to put back the original Windows XP
Home Edition that came on the computer. The key is on the bottom of the
laptop. The Professional version has no key and I cannot get updates due to
this. Need directions for doing this.
Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Restoring the laptop to 'factory defaults' would do that, but you would lose
all your other installed apps, settings, and data. If you intend to do that,
there are a few things you can do to prepare. The Files and Settings Transfer
Wizard can save your data and settings to a CD. This assumes you could
rebuild all your added apps again.
Don't be in a big hurry to restore to factory condition. Take some time to
save what you can.
(No, Pro cannot be 'downgraded' to Home.)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I loaned my Toshiba Satellite A-105 laptop out to a friend. He installed
Windows XP Professional on it.

Some friend! On his own initiative, he changed the operating system of
a computer that was lent to him? If I were in your shoes, I would
never lend him anything again.

I want to put back the original Windows XP
Home Edition that came on the computer. The key is on the bottom of the
laptop. The Professional version has no key and I cannot get updates due to
this. Need directions for doing this.

You have to reinstall Windows cleanly, so first backup everything you
need on the drive to external media, then reinstall Windows, and
finally restore what you've backed up.

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

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

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

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

Or better, pay a professional to do this, and send your "friend" the
bill.