Upgrade qualification

[Wowbagger]

I purchased a new HP laptop that came with XP Media Center Edition
installed. I would like to install XP Professional - since either XP Home
or XP Professional qualify for the upgrade pricing I assume that MCE also
qualifies? If so, since I have no original install disks (restore partition
only) will I have have problems with the install?

 

[Malke]

I purchased a new HP laptop that came with XP Media Center Edition
installed. I would like to install XP Professional - since either XP
Home or XP Professional qualify for the upgrade pricing I assume that
MCE also
qualifies? If so, since I have no original install disks (restore
partition only) will I have have problems with the install?

MCE is not an upgrade path to XP Pro since it is a superset of Pro.
Hence, going from MCE to Pro would be a downgrade and you would need to
do a clean install with a full retail Pro.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I purchased a new HP laptop that came with XP Media Center Edition
installed. I would like to install XP Professional -

Why? Are you aware that MCE is a superset of XP Professional? There's
nothing in Professional that isn't also in MCE, with one exception--the
ability to join a domain. Unless you need that abaility, there should not be
any advantage to your doing this.

since either XP
Home or XP Professional qualify for the upgrade pricing I assume that
MCE also qualifies?

No, it doesn't. Since MCE is a superset of Professional, going from it to
Professional is a downgrade, and downgrades aren't supported.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I purchased a new HP laptop that came with XP Media Center Edition
installed. I would like to install XP Professional - since either XP Home
or XP Professional qualify for the upgrade pricing I assume that MCE also
qualifies? If so, since I have no original install disks (restore partition
only) will I have have problems with the install?

Transitioning from WinXP MCE to WinXP Pro is a _downgrade_.

WinXP Media Center Edition is a _superset_ (iow, it does
_everything_ WinXP Pro can do (except join a domain), plus contains
additional multi-media features) of WinXP Pro.

Windows XP Media Center Edition Home
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ehome/default.asp


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Frankster]

Based on our correspondence in other newsgroups, I would assume you need
this machine to join a Windows AD domain (become a member of your domain).
If so, (you may know this) Windows Media Center cannot join a Windows
domain. (without unsupported registry hacks)

As for "upgrading"... it does not apply to changing from Media Center to XP
Pro. XP Pro, XP Home and XP Media Center are all disrete OSs.

One important difference with XP Media Center is that it comes ONLY in the
OEM flavor. You cannot go into a retail store and buy a retail copy of XP
Media Center off the shelf. It is distributed by computer manufacturers.
This is primarily due to the close integration of supported vendor hardware
and the OS. Therefore, no "upgrade" pricing is relevant to Media Center.

Bottom line... if you need XP Pro, you will have to completely re-do the box
and load XP Pro from scratch. Be *sure* to collect all the necessary drivers
before you wipe your Media Center machine. Also be aware that the Media
Center application itself will not install on XP Pro (or Home).
Additionally, the Media Center OEM license key will not work with a retail
XP Pro install.

-Frank