Upgrading, partitions, XP Home and XP Pro? Help!

[teamchild]

So, I recently bought a new computer from Dell for our small office. It
came pre-installed with Windows XP Home, which we wanted to upgrade to
XP Pro. I did what I thought was a clean install by deleting the
partition that the original OS was on and installing the XP Pro on a
new partition. However, now when I startup I am given an option between
using XP Pro and XP Home. Does this mean that they are actually
installed on the same partition? (Because I hear this is a bad thing.)
Or are they installed on two different partitions and I just have a
multiboot system? And if they are on two different partitions, how
would I delete the one with XP Home on it? Mind you, I know very little
about computers, so too much jargon will likely confuse me! Thanks for
any help!

 

[Rich Barry]

Double Click on MyComputer and see how many drive Icons you have. You
should have one for the C: drive If you have two hard drive Icons then you
created and installed WinXP Pro on a new partition
now called the D: drive. If not, then you probably have two Windows
Folders on the C: Drive. Maybe, Windows and
Windows2. If that's the case you have WinXPHome and WinXP Pro both on
the C: partition. Either way you have a
dual boot system if both choices work Ok. Let me know which
configuration you have and I will help you further.

 

[AJR]

Just curious - how did you "delete the partition with Windows XP Home
edition"?

 

[Ron Martell]

So, I recently bought a new computer from Dell for our small office. It
came pre-installed with Windows XP Home, which we wanted to upgrade to
XP Pro. I did what I thought was a clean install by deleting the
partition that the original OS was on and installing the XP Pro on a
new partition. However, now when I startup I am given an option between
using XP Pro and XP Home. Does this mean that they are actually
installed on the same partition? (Because I hear this is a bad thing.)
Or are they installed on two different partitions and I just have a
multiboot system? And if they are on two different partitions, how
would I delete the one with XP Home on it? Mind you, I know very little
about computers, so too much jargon will likely confuse me! Thanks for
any help!

Do you really have an actual or anticipated need for at least one of
the features or functions that are found only in XP Pro and which are
not part of XP Home? Because if not then there is probably no need
for you to upgrade to XP Pro because other than these specific items
there is no difference between the two versions, and they are compiled
from the same source code base. In particular there is zero
difference in performance or stability between the two systems.

Also, for future reference, you should research your Dell purchase
carefully before committing to the order. Usually it is possible to
specific XP Pro with the new system rather than XP Home, and the price
difference is very much less than purchasing XP Pro separately.
Another consideration is that you may have problems in getting tech
support from Dell for your new computer because of the changed
operating system.

Good luck

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

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Guest]

Rich, I reformatted my computer and now I have two choices of windows xp at
start up I want to know how to get rid of the old one I had, I tried
installing on a new partition, it only gave me a choice of two and the one
that the original one was already on worked but now I have two installs of xp
on that one (C drive) and the other choice I tried said that the partition
was to small, I want to get rid of the first one cause I did choose that once
and it said it couldn't load so it don't work anyways. Please help it's
irritating that windows wont just load that I have to click on the one choice
every time first to finish loading