Upgrade Option to XP Pro from XP Home

[Lynn Quinlan]

Hi there,

I have a computer with XP Home currently installed on C: drive. (I own both
the Pro and Home versions so there's no problem there.)

Here's the main problem. A few years ago when Norton was on here there was
a problem with GoBack. It ended up reversing the two hard drives. The
larger drive (55 GB) is now D: and is vacant. This was the original C:
drive. The main C: drive has XP Home on it. So, how do I go about
installing my XP Pro on here without too much hassle? If I leave the drive
assignments as they are and install XP Pro onto D: then how do I go about
removing XP Home from C:? What sequence of events is it best to follow? If
I install Pro on D: and use that as my main drive does it automatically
follow that all the subsequent programs and updates will install on D:? I
want to use D: (55 GB) as the main drive and backup information to then go
on C: (35 GB).

Basically I want to put Pro onto this newer computer as I have an older
computer that I want to move Home over to. That's a separate question.

Thanks in advance for guidance on how to proceed and remove Home and put Pro
on this system. Any help is much appreciated.

L.

 

[Guest]

I posted that last without thinking about removing the c drive later. Can't
do it. You have to first remove C, boot to cd and install Pro, then replace
the drive to copy data. It will probably require changing jumper settings on
the drives.

 

[Guest]

Boot to setup cd, and choose to install to a new drive.

Windows XP Install Emulation:
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdoldhdd/indexemu.htm

 

[Guest]

Hi Lynn,

If you don't need to keep any of your current files, then the easiest way is
to boot from the CD (XP Pro), choose to install a new installation, delete
the current partitions (both C: and D, create a new partition on the larger
drive (which will become C, and then install XP Pro on that partition.
This is assuming that C: and D: are indeed two different drives, and not just
two partitions on the same drive. If they are two partitions on the same
drive, you just have to re-create a new partition the size you want (i.e. 55
GB), which will become C:

Once you are back in Windows, you need to re-install all your drivers (hope
you have those handy on CD, otherwise you should try to locate / download /
burn them before you do the re-install), install the Windows Updates, and
then you can use Disk Manager (right-click My Computer and select "Manage")
to format your second drive / partition as D:

If you need to keep files, it becomes a bit more complicated. In that case,
you can either:

a) Backup all the files you want to keep to CD / DVD / external hard drive,
and then follow the above procedure

b) Leave everything as it is, boot from the CD (XP Pro), create a new
installation, install XP Pro on D:, and once you've set everything up on D:
as you want, copy over the files you want to keep from C: When you start
your computer this way, it will probably give you the choice of booting into
Windows XP Home or Pro. You would simply select Pro. Finally, when you no
longer need anything on C:, you can use Disk Manager (while in XP Pro) to
delete / reformat C: That will nix the XP Home installation, and you can use
it normally. You should be able to delete the partition entirely, and that
would allow you to switch D: to C: at that point (might occur automatically
after rebooting)... just a guess, as I haven't tried doing this before.

Best Wishes,
Kurosh