Switching XP Pro and Home installs on different PCs

[Guest]

I have 2 laptops, one that has been upgraded with XP Pro, the other with an OEM version of XP Home. I'd like to flip the installation of the OS on each machine (so XP Pro is on the pc that currently is running XP Home and vice versa).

Is there a way to do this without running into an activation problem?

Thanks

 

[Ron Martell]

I have 2 laptops, one that has been upgraded with XP Pro, the other with an OEM version of XP Home. I'd like to flip the installation of the OS on each machine (so XP Pro is on the pc that currently is running XP Home and vice versa).

Is there a way to do this without running into an activation problem?

Thanks

Not really. Your XP Home OEM license is permanently locked to the
first computer that it was installed on and may be legitimately moved
to another computer under any circumstances, even if the first
computer is lost, stolen, or destroyed.

Also the XP Home OEM CD probably has been highly customized to suit
the specific hardware in the laptop that it came with. It is almost
certainly a "system restore" type disk that contains only an image of
the factory-fresh installed copy of XP Home, exactly as it was when it
was first sold.

Your best bet is probably going to be to purchase another XP Pro
retail upgrade and use that to upgrade the XP Home machine.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ron.

Ignoring the OS switching idea, is there a way for me to uninstall XP Pro and then uprgade the XP Home laptop with Pro?

 

[Ron Martell]

Thanks Ron.

Ignoring the OS switching idea, is there a way for me to uninstall XP Pro and then uprgade the XP Home laptop with Pro?

Your XP Pro Upgrade is a retail version not OEM and therefore you are
free to move it from one computer to another as you see fit, provided
that it is only ever installed on a single computer at any given time.

The problem would be in removing it from the laptop that it is now
installed on. I assume that this machine previously had another
version of Windows installed on it. The following Knowledge Base
article should have the information you need:

How to Uninstall Windows XP and Revert to a Previous Operating System
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 303661
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=303661

Note that if your XP Pro Upgrade version did not include Service Pack
1 and you have subsequently upgraded it to Service Pack 1 then the
uninstall option to go back to the original version of Windows will
not be there.

Good luck



Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."