Upgrade XP Home to Pro without a product disk

[Guest]

Hi,

I've got Philips Freeline MT1100 running XP Home edition, and I wish to
design websites. However, as I'm sure you're aware, Home doesn't have either
PWS or IIS. Thus, I wish to upgrade to Pro, but my computer came with Home
pre loaded and the recovery disk does not respond to 'D:\setup.exe' as is
suggested at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/getstarted/installquick.mspx ,
simply because the disk is a system restore disk that has the Home info on it
amongst other things.

So...how can someone who has Home preloaded on their computer and no Home
product disk upgrade to Pro?

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Gordon]

Hi,

I've got Philips Freeline MT1100 running XP Home edition, and I wish to
design websites. However, as I'm sure you're aware, Home doesn't have either
PWS or IIS. Thus, I wish to upgrade to Pro, but my computer came with Home
pre loaded and the recovery disk does not respond to 'D:\setup.exe' as is
suggested at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/getstarted/installquick.mspx ,
simply because the disk is a system restore disk that has the Home info on it
amongst other things.

So...how can someone who has Home preloaded on their computer and no Home
product disk upgrade to Pro?

Any help would be much appreciated

Easy - buy an UPGRADE version of Pro and, do an upgrade! (AFAIK........)

 

[Malke]

Easy - buy an UPGRADE version of Pro and, do an upgrade!
(AFAIK........)

Not so easy, Gordon. If the recovery disk is only an OEM image, I don't
believe it will work as qualifying media for an upgrade. Of course, the
OP could use a Win98/ME disk if he has one lying around... Also, the
OEM might offer XP Pro to their customers at a discount. It's worth a
phone call anyway.

If the OP doesn't want to do that or spend any money, then there's
always Apache instead of IIS.

Malke

 

[Gordon]

Not so easy, Gordon. If the recovery disk is only an OEM image, I don't
believe it will work as qualifying media for an upgrade.

But the OP could do an in-place upgrade, couldn't he......

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Not so easy, Gordon. If the recovery disk is only an OEM image, I
don't believe it will work as qualifying media for an upgrade.

Malke, the qualifying media is needed only to do a *clean* installation with
an Upgrdae CD. Michael says he wants to do an upgrade, not a clean
installation.

Also, although an OEM restore CD can't be used as qualifying media to do a
clean installation, there is a way around it. First restore from the Restore
CD. Then run the XP upgrade CD from within that restored system, and change
from Upgrade to New Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete the
partition and start over. (Learned from Alex Nichol, a while back).

 

[Malke]

Malke, the qualifying media is needed only to do a *clean*
installation with an Upgrdae CD. Michael says he wants to do an
upgrade, not a clean installation.

Also, although an OEM restore CD can't be used as qualifying media to
do a clean installation, there is a way around it. First restore from
the Restore CD. Then run the XP upgrade CD from within that restored
system, and change from Upgrade to New Install. When it asks where,
press Esc to delete the partition and start over. (Learned from Alex
Nichol, a while back).

Good points, thanks. I guess I always like to be prepared for when an
upgrade install goes bad and you are forced into doing a clean install
of the upgrade. But you are quite right - if all goes well, there will
be no problem with what the OP has.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Good points, thanks. I guess I always like to be prepared for when an
upgrade install goes bad and you are forced into doing a clean install
of the upgrade. But you are quite right - if all goes well, there will
be no problem with what the OP has.

I'm with you on that. It's always prudent to be prepared for things not
working the way they're supposed to.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hi,

I've got Philips Freeline MT1100 running XP Home edition, and I wish to
design websites. However, as I'm sure you're aware, Home doesn't have either
PWS or IIS. Thus, I wish to upgrade to Pro, but my computer came with Home
pre loaded and the recovery disk does not respond to 'D:\setup.exe' as is
suggested at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/getstarted/installquick.mspx ,
simply because the disk is a system restore disk that has the Home info on it
amongst other things.

So...how can someone who has Home preloaded on their computer and no Home
product disk upgrade to Pro?

Any help would be much appreciated

You will need to purchase the Retail Upgrade version of Windows XP
Pro, which is available at pretty much any computer retailer.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

"Also, although an OEM restore CD can't be used as qualifying media to do a

clean installation, there is a way around it. First restore from the Restore
CD. Then run the XP upgrade CD from within that restored system, and change
from Upgrade to New Install. When it asks where, press Esc to delete the
partition and start over. (Learned from Alex Nichol, a while back)."

Where would I find the XP upgrade 'cd' on the restored system?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Where would I find the XP upgrade 'cd' on the restored system?

Not "on" it, but "from" it. While booted to the restored Windows XP, insert
the XP Upgrade CD and run the installation from it.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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