URGENT: How do we to upgrade from XP Home to XP PRO... in a *hurry* ?!

S

ship

Hi

My boss is furious! He just bought a new (Sony Vaio) laptop (from
Staples in Banbury, UK) and apparently the salesman firmly told him
that he only needed the Windows XP Home Edition that the PC came with
in order to hook up to the office LAN.

It turns out that you have to have Window XP *PRO* in order to join a
local DOMAIN (which is how all the other PCs on the local area network
are set up).

He needs the PC running TODAY!
What are his options? Does he need to buy an upgrade CD-ROM -(which
will cost GBP 170.00 and take 24 hours to get delivered) or can he just
download some upgrade patch that he can buy online?

Should our Sony Vaio have come with XP Pro as standard? Or have we just
be ripped off / miss-sold by the local salesman saying it didnt need XP
PRO!?

With thanks


Ship
Shiperton Henethe
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

There is no "upgrade patch" you can download to upgrade XP Home to XP Pro.

An upgrade to Windows XP Pro will not affect your current programs or files
if you use the following procedure:

1. Purchase a conventional "Retail Upgrade Version" of Windows XP Professional.
2. Uninstall your antivirus program.
3. Perform a backup of your important documents and files to a CD.
4. Disconnect all hardware peripheral devices, except the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
5. While running Windows XP Home, insert the Windows XP Pro CD in the drive and select
the default "Upgrade" setup option. [Do not select "New Installation"]
6. Visit the Windows Update site to download all the critical updates.
7. Defrag the hard drive.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Hi
|
| My boss is furious! He just bought a new (Sony Vaio) laptop (from
| Staples in Banbury, UK) and apparently the salesman firmly told him
| that he only needed the Windows XP Home Edition that the PC came with
| in order to hook up to the office LAN.
|
| It turns out that you have to have Window XP *PRO* in order to join a
| local DOMAIN (which is how all the other PCs on the local area network
| are set up).
|
| He needs the PC running TODAY!
| What are his options? Does he need to buy an upgrade CD-ROM -(which
| will cost GBP 170.00 and take 24 hours to get delivered) or can he just
| download some upgrade patch that he can buy online?
|
| Should our Sony Vaio have come with XP Pro as standard? Or have we just
| be ripped off / miss-sold by the local salesman saying it didnt need XP
| PRO!?
|
| With thanks
|
| Ship
| Shiperton Henethe
 
T

Tom Porterfield

ship said:
Hi

My boss is furious! He just bought a new (Sony Vaio) laptop (from
Staples in Banbury, UK) and apparently the salesman firmly told him
that he only needed the Windows XP Home Edition that the PC came with
in order to hook up to the office LAN.

It turns out that you have to have Window XP *PRO* in order to join a
local DOMAIN (which is how all the other PCs on the local area network
are set up).

He needs the PC running TODAY!
What are his options? Does he need to buy an upgrade CD-ROM -(which
will cost GBP 170.00 and take 24 hours to get delivered) or can he just
download some upgrade patch that he can buy online?
Click to expand...

There is no download patch to take you from Home to Pro. You'll need to
purchase a Pro upgrade disk and use that to upgrade the OS.
Should our Sony Vaio have come with XP Pro as standard? Or have we just
be ripped off / miss-sold by the local salesman saying it didnt need XP
PRO!?
Click to expand...

As standard, probably not. It was probably an available option. The
salesman did misspeak if he told you that Home is all you needed to hook
up to an office LAN, or he at least did not understand that you actually
need to join the machine to a domain.

You can access domain resources using XP Home which may be enough to get
you through today until the Pro disk arrives. When connecting to a
domain resource specify a valid domain account rather than connecting
with the account that was used to log on to the XP Home machine.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.
 
R

R. McCarty

Unfortunately most Retail stores only stock notebooks that have
Home Edition due to the price spread between Home & Pro. It's
unlikely you could return it and get a direct replacement with Pro
factory installed. Normally, you could contact Sony and request
an upgrade to Pro - but that won't help with your immediate issue.
Your options are very limited either a return and purchase a Pro
unit or go out and buy Pro Upgrade for ~$199.00 US.
As to sales people's advice - it's better to do your own research
than trust them.
 
D

Don Schmidt

Are you sure about your problem? In our home we have a CAT5 + wireless
network with two Windows XP Pro (one is a wireless laptop) and one Windows
XP Home plus a network printer and all are working great including share
folders on all three computers. Connection to the Internet is via DSL.
 
S

ship

You can access domain resources using XP Home which may be enough to get
you through today until the Pro disk arrives. When connecting to a
domain resource specify a valid domain account rather than connecting
with the account that was used to log on to the XP Home machine.
Click to expand...

Crickey so are you SURE that XP Home *does* let you use a domain?

If so we're not quite sure how to do it.

For one thing, there doesnt seem to be any Ctrl/Alt/Delete dialog when
the PC is booted.
For another, we're not sure how and exactly where to specify the domain
rather than the workgroup! I found somewhere where I tried to entering
our domain name
instead of a workgroup name but it ignored the name... so there must be
more to it.

[Sigh!]

With thanks


Ship
 
S

ship

Are you sure about your problem? In our home we have a CAT5 + wireless

network with two Windows XP Pro (one is a wireless laptop) and one
Windows
XP Home plus a network printer and all are working great including
share
folders on all three computers. Connection to the Internet is via DSL.
Interesting but are you sure that you are using a DOMAIN? (rather than
a
WORKGROUP - if that's the correct term)

Our tech support company are now insisting that we need to upgrade to
Window XP PRO... But they've been wrong before!


Ship
Shiperton Henethe
 
T

Tom Porterfield

ship said:
Crickey so are you SURE that XP Home *does* let you use a domain?
Click to expand...

No, I said you can access domain resources. There is no way to specify
a domain to join to or be a member of within the network configuration.
Rather when accessing domain resources such as a printer or network
share, you would specify a domain defined ID and password when
connecting to those resources.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.
 
G

Guest

You don't need a newsgroup: your local Citizens Advice Bureau can help your
boss. If he bought something on the basis that the seller represented that it
was fit for an express purpose, and it isn't fit for that purpose, then he
ought to be able to get his money back. Have a look at the Sale of Goods Act.
 
S

ship

Ah I see. Does that mean he could share files?
(i.e. read and write to the office's main LAN server)
Because that is a key issue!


Btw, someone told me that Office XP Pro is also slightly
FASTER than XP Home. Any views?

Thanks for you help


Ship
Shiperton Henethe
 
P

Peter Foldes

Do not try and find a way around this. Carey and Tom are right on the target. You need to get XP Pro in there otherwise you are not able to join a domain.
 
T

Tom Porterfield

ship said:
Ah I see. Does that mean he could share files?
(i.e. read and write to the office's main LAN server)
Because that is a key issue!
Click to expand...

Yes, that he should be able to do as long as he connects to the network
share with an ID and password that has the appropriate access to the share.
Btw, someone told me that Office XP Pro is also slightly
FASTER than XP Home. Any views?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean. Office XP Pro is a suite of applications, XP
Home is an operating system. How can you compare the speed of one
against the other. Do you mean is Windows XP Pro faster than Windows XP
Home? Or do you mean to ask if Office XP Pro runs faster on Windows XP
Home than it does on Windows XP Pro?

Either way I don't have any information that says either is faster than
the other.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

Windows XP Professional Comparison Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/whyupgrade/featurecomp.mspx

Top 10 Reasons for IT Pros to move to Windows XP Professional
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/whyupgrade/itprotop10.mspx

Top 10 Reasons Windows XP Professional Is Right for Small Business
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/whyupgrade/sorgtop10.mspx

Top 10 Reasons for Moving to Windows XP Professional
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/whyupgrade/top10.mspx
 
R

Rock

ship said:
Hi
Click to expand...

Should our Sony Vaio have come with XP Pro as standard? Or have we just
be ripped off / miss-sold by the local salesman saying it didnt need XP
PRO!?

With thanks


Ship
Shiperton Henethe
Click to expand...

Depends on how the question was worded, what your boss actually told the
sales person and the sale person's competency. Asking, "Can it hook up
to our office Lan?" is an ambiguous question. The sales person should
have asked if it was a workgroup or a domain. And then it depends on
whether your boss knows it's a domain and answered with that. Maybe the
boss said workgroup thinking you all work in a group, in which case the
sales person gave the right answer. Maybe the boss is unwilling to
admit their own mistake?
 
B

Bob I

Sounds to me like the buyer was not capable of specifying what was
needed. If it was specified "to hook up to a LAN" (which any XP Home can
do) as opposed to "Join a domain" then he got what was specified.
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Don said:
Are you sure about your problem? In our home we have a CAT5 + wireless
network with two Windows XP Pro (one is a wireless laptop) and one Windows
XP Home plus a network printer and all are working great including share
folders on all three computers. Connection to the Internet is via DSL.
Click to expand...


And you have a Win2K server or Win2K3 server domain? At home?

--

Bruce Chambers

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both at once. - RAH
 

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