Upgrading XP Home to Pro

[Guest]

We have 7 workstations that are on XP Home. We have purchsed a volume licence
to upgrade them to XP Pro how do i create a unattended CD so that we can
start the Setup and automate the upgrade or am i going to have to do a
complete clean install

 

[Shenan Stanley]

We have 7 workstations that are on XP Home. We have purchsed a
volume licence to upgrade them to XP Pro how do i create a
unattended CD so that we can start the Setup and automate the
upgrade or am i going to have to do a complete clean install

First - update the new media with all of the patches - this will save you
the time of upgrading all the machines.
Second - update the media with new drivers - drivers that the machines will
need.
Third - add things to the media - basics like maybe plugins like Quicktime,
Real Alternative, Flash, Acrobat Reader, etc..

A good place to start - in case you don't just want to read through and find
this link below (along with the others for produucts/methods already
mentioned):

http://unattended.msfn.org/

You can download and save all updates for later use - including service
packs. You can even integrate those patches into your Windows XP
installation CD - so if you had to reinstall - you wold end up almost
fully-patched right fromthe beginning.

For service pack 2 in particlular:

Direct Download of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP
http://snipurl.com/8bqy

Order Windows XP Service Pack 2 on CD
http://snipurl.com/d41v

You can download each update manually - based off the KB Article number,
etc. That way you can back it up/burn a CD of them in case you need them or
use them to keep a slipstream/integrated (updated) Windows XP CD.

How to use the Windows Update Catalog
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323166
(In order to use the Windows Update Catalog, you must use IE to get the
patches..)

Windows Update Catalog
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/en/default.asp
(In order to use the Windows Update Catalog, you must use IE to get the
patches..)

Creating an Integrated Installation
http://snipurl.com/el43

Integrate software updates into your Windows installation source files
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828930

Really customize your CD..
http://unattended.msfn.org/

Produce an up-to-date XP Distibution CD
http://xpcreate.com/

AutoPatcher
http://www.autopatcher.com/

AutoStreamer
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223562

You can see the critical (security and other) patches released for a given
month using the following:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms##-***.mspx

At the end of this line you see "ms##-***.mspx" .. If you simply replace ##
with the two-digit year and the *** with the three character month
abbreviation, you will see the list of "critical" and "important" patches
for that month (since it only happens once a month usually, if you check by
the second Tuesday (wait until afternoon) of each month - you should be
fine) - note that future months will not work.

As an example...

December 2004's patches..
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-dec.mspx

March 2005's patches..
None released.. so that one will fail...

May 2005's patches..
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-may.mspx

July 2005's patches..
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-jul.mspx


Once you get on the page with each month's list of patches.. You can go to
the related KB articles and grab the appropriate files from there.

Unattended installation or cloning methods:

By CD/DVD...
http://unattended.msfn.org/

By network...
http://unattended.sourceforge.net/

Your other choice might be to create a universal image - but I think you
would get more flexibility with an unattended installation.

http://www.leinss.com/uniimg.html
(See the WinXP Blog addition - imaging with universal image)

http://www.gc.peachnet.edu/www/wbeck/W2KXP.htm#Master
(More on building and ghosting a master image)