Trying to upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro--need Upgrade Advisor on CD

[Guest]

Frustrated consumer newbie here... I've exhausted my options trying to find answers on microsoft.com and I'm hoping that maybe a MS employee in the know is trolling these newsgroups...

I am interested in upgrading from XP Home to XP Pro. I followed the procedures posted here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/default.asp. I qualify for the upgrade. My computer has the proper system requirements. Now I want to go and check software and hardware compatibility. I am directed to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/checkcompat.asp and I click on "Use the Upgrade Advisor" since I really just want to find The site kindly tells me that the file is very large and will require a broadband connection. But I don't have a broadband connection.

So... is there an option to get this Upgrade advisor on CD? Is there another utility within my XP Home OS that will allow me to do this and then submit the results to microsoft via the Internet? How do I make sure that if I upgrade my home laptop (and my only computer) to XP Pro, the software programs currently installed on my computer will still work

Thanks in advance for any assistance/guidance/redirection provided.

 

[Bruce J. Weiers]

The Upgrade advisor is on the XP installation discs. So, it should be
on your XP Home disc.

However, since you already have XP Home installed, why bother?

I honestly cannot imagine a program, which works in XP Home, which is
not going to work in XP Pro.

On general principles, I would uninstall my antivirus program before the
upgrade and reinstall it after.

 

[annonymous]

It is probably available on a CD. If you live in UK try:- Microsoft Customer
Services ...
E-mail Address: (e-mail address removed).

Explain your predicament fully and offer to pay for the CD - you will get it
free!

Frustrated consumer newbie here... I've exhausted my options trying to

find answers on microsoft.com and I'm hoping that maybe a MS employee in the
know is trolling these newsgroups....

I am interested in upgrading from XP Home to XP Pro. I followed the

procedures posted here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/default.asp. I
qualify for the upgrade. My computer has the proper system requirements.
Now I want to go and check software and hardware compatibility. I am
directed to
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/checkcompat.asp
and I click on "Use the Upgrade Advisor" since I really just want to find
The site kindly tells me that the file is very large and will require a
broadband connection. But I don't have a broadband connection.

So... is there an option to get this Upgrade advisor on CD? Is there

another utility within my XP Home OS that will allow me to do this and then
submit the results to microsoft via the Internet? How do I make sure that
if I upgrade my home laptop (and my only computer) to XP Pro, the software
programs currently installed on my computer will still work?

 

[Guest]

----- Bruce J. Weiers wrote: ----

The Upgrade advisor is on the XP installation discs. So, it should be
on your XP Home disc

However, since you already have XP Home installed, why bother

I honestly cannot imagine a program, which works in XP Home, which is
not going to work in XP Pro

On general principles, I would uninstall my antivirus program before the
upgrade and reinstall it after

Thanks-
Still confused, though--now on something different. When you say that last bit "on general principles" what do you mean? It seems counterintuitive to me (but, alas, I am but a consumer type) that I would uninstall an antivirus program before installing something. Isn't the antivirus program supposed to be on all of the time? Do you just mean to turn off the anti-virus program so that I can install the OS? (iow, Is Norton AntiVirus designed to not allow any programs to be installed no matter what?

I'm imagining at this point I'm asking a series of loaded questions...the answers of each requiring a textbook's worth of knowledge--are there any resources out on the web that I can use to get up to speed on the basics of my home computer? (Nothing too condescending, mind you--believe it or not, I work at a software company and use a ton of different applications--it's just that I'm spoiled at work, used to the little computer elves setting up the infrastructure so that my computer just works--but once I get home on the computer with xp home I'm too tired to figure it all out.... of course, it's now clear that I should probably change my thinking....

I'll compile any resources folks have out there and post as a new thread to the newsgroup if there's anyone else out there so inclined to provide advise...

tia
ar

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Borrow a friend's WinXP Pro CD and run the advisor on it.

Chances are, you will be fine, as XP supports many laptops "out of the box".
However, it would be in your best interest to check with the laptop
manufacturer for the availability of any needed proprietary drivers for the
hardware in use. There may be none needed, but they are your best source of
information. The Home-to-Pro upgrade is a one-way ticket, there is no
uninstall option, so you want to be sure before you proceed.

Frankly, as the system was designed for WinXP, you will probably be fine,
but it doesn't hurt to check first.

--
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

 

[Richard Urban]

I some instances - not all - Antivirus programs can interfere with program
install. If you look at the "readme" file, or the "release notes" included
on most program disks, it will tell you if this is advisable for a specific
program.

Don't forget to either reboot or turn on the antivirus program when the
install is completed.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

The Upgrade Advisor is also located on every retail WinXP
installation CD, but you really don't need it. If you're already
running WinXP Home, then your PC will run WinXP Pro. The two versions
are _identical_ when it comes to performance, stability, and device
driver and software application compatibility, but are intended to
meet different functionality, networking, security, and ease-of-use
needs, in different environments.

The only time you might have a problem is if you've installed some
peculiar application or device driver that was, for some bizarre
reason, designed by its manufacturer to work only with WinXP Home. To
determine if this is the case, you have to consult the manufacturer(s)
of any such applications or devices; the Windows Compatibility Wizard
cannot detect artificial limitations deliberately built into such
applications or device drivers.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

In general, I'm in agreement with you. I also find it
"counter-intuitive" to remove virus protection while installing
application software. In fact, I've never found it necessary to do
so, and I've encountered no problems.

However, you are not contemplating the installation of just
another application - you're changing the operating system, the
foundation upon which all other applications, including your antivirus
software rest. I've seen two negative outcomes of leaving AV in place
while upgrading the OS. First of all, as the upgrade process must, of
necessity, replace and alter critical systems files, some AV
applications can interpret such actions as virus activity and
interfere with the upgrade. The results of this AV interference can
be unpredictable. Secondly, some AV applications, upon installation,
burrow rather deeply into the OS's systems folders and the registry,
and, if left in place during an OS upgrade, subsequently cannot be
"gracefully" removed or upgraded, themselves. (Symantec's Norton AV
is particularly well-known, in this regard.)


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Bruce J. Weiers]

----- Bruce J. Weiers wrote: -----


On general principles, I would uninstall my antivirus program
before the
[OS] upgrade and reinstall it after.

Thanks--
Still confused, though--now on something different. When you say that
last bit "on general principles" what do you mean? It seems
counterintuitive to me (but, alas, I am but a consumer type) that I
would uninstall an antivirus program before installing something.
Isn't the antivirus program supposed to be on all of the time? Do you
just mean to turn off the anti-virus program so that I can install the
OS? (iow, Is Norton AntiVirus designed to not allow any programs to be
installed no matter what?)

I think others have already said much of this, but I will repeat it,
because this is advice that can save you a lot of grief.

Antivirus programs monitor everything. They typically try to block the
replacement or modification of certain operating system files, which is
a good thing, most of the time, since application installation programs
should not be modifying this files and truly evil viruses might try.
Antivirus often check for suspicious changes in system files and
variables at each startup, and may block certain kinds of changes.
Antivirus programs typically inhibit the running of scripts; scripts are
an efficient way to make system settings changes and to tie together the
sequential running of several programs, which makes scripts a favored
tool of viruses, but also of system administrators and other people
trying to create complex software and hardware installations.

If you were to read the instructions, most software publishers recommend
turning off your antivirus monitoring function temporarily for the
duration of the installation of their software applications. Most
antivirus programs make it easy to do this, by simply clicking on the
antivirus program's icon in the system tray.

For the most part, I don't think it is really necessary, and most people
don't bother, and suffer no obvious ill-effects. Most of the
conditions, which made turning off antivirus monitoring during the
installation of software applications a necessity in the past, no longer
exist: antivirus products are better behaved; XP is better designed;
installations -- particularly those using the standard Install Shield
package -- are much better and very unlikely to have bugs.

That said, an OS installation is different. An OS installation or
upgrade is going to need to replace system files, and do a lot of deep
reconfiguring, when it restarts the machine (which it will do several
times). I don't think it is enough to just stop monitoring (which is
going to come on again as soon as the machine restarts), or to stop
script blocking (if you knew how to do that), or to stop, temporarily,
the Antivirus from loading at startup.

An upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro is among the least worrying OS
upgrades I can imagine, because you are going from XP to XP, which is
not much of a leap. Still, your XP Pro will still involve stepping back
to plain XP Pro SP1, while your XP Home probably has received some
patches from Windows Update, after XP Home SP1. (Just as an aside,
since you are on dialup, you might want to get the last Windows XP
rollup, IE6 cumulative patch, OE cumulative patch, DirectX 9, Windows
Media Player 9, and a few other, large updates and patches from a friend
with broadband and a CD-writer.)

Aside from OS upgrades/installations, the only kind of installations
where I am particularly attentive about temporarily disabling antivirus
monitoring are upgrades to the video drivers.

For reasons we don't need to go into detail about, video driver
installations go unusually deep and wide in the OS system files --
deeper than other devices. ATi actually recommends that you uninstall
the existing video drivers before running their installation program;
strictly speaking, you should probably install one of Microsoft's
generic video drivers in place of the ATi video driver and restart the
machine, before installing a new ATi video driver. I doubt many people
do that, but they should. nVidia and Intel graphic driver installations
are a bit more user friendly, but I would still turn of antivirus
monitoring.

Installation of HP multifunction devices (printer/scanner/copier/fax)
are another case, where I am very careful about everything, including
disabling antivirus monitoring and antivirus script-blocking. But,
that's a statement about serious incompetence at HP, and not about what
ought to be necessary.

 

[Guest]

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who piped in. I definitely feel much more comfortable about the process. (And quite honestly, I wish that the AV software and MS would explain this stuff as well as you folks have, but that's an off-topic rant for another day!)..
cheers
ard