crashman2u said:
I am inheriting a machine that has XP Home. My old machine, which I will be
putting out of service, has XP pro. How do I put XP pro onto the inherited
machine? Will it upgrade if I insert the XP Pro disk and run the install
program or must I reformat the hard drive on the inherited machine?
You've actually three issues here: licensing, technicalities, and security.
First of all, what specific type of WinXP license do you have on the
old machine, OEM or retail? An OEM license is permanently bound to the
computer on which it was originally installed, and may never be
legitimately transferred to a new computer. It lives and dies with that
first computer. A retail license, however, can be transferred as many
times as you like, as long as it's only installed on one computer at a time.
If you do elect to violate copyright and contract law and re-use that
OEM license, you'd have to format the hard drive of the newer computer
and perform a clean installations; OEM CDs, by design, cannot perform
in-place upgrades.
Assuming a retail license, you can simply insert the installation CD
and perform an in-place upgrade. WinXP is designed to install and
upgrade the existing operating system while simultaneously preserving
your applications and data, and translating as many personalized
settings as possible. The process is designed to be, and normally is,
quite painless. That said, things can go wrong, in a small number of
cases. If your data is at all important to you, back it up before
proceeding.
Normally, the upgrade from WinXP Home to WinXP Pro, in particular,
almost always goes smoothly, as both operating systems use the same kernel.
However, with second-hand computers, especially if acquired from
strangers but perhaps even if acquired from a family member, your wisest
course of action would probably be to format the hard drives and start
fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may
have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because
the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.
--
Bruce Chambers
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