WinXP Home to Pro

[Ed H]

I am thinking of upgrading from WinXP Home to Pro. I have an OEM version of
XP home edition on CD that came with my Dell computer and even though Dell
says that this OEM is upgradeable I get an uneasy feeling from other posts
to this newsgroup. How about this; I still have the original software to my
old computer, Win95 and Win98SE upgrade. Is Win98SE upgrade eligible
software to qualify for an XP Professional upgrade. I do plan on installing
from a clean HDD. Thanks.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I am thinking of upgrading from WinXP Home to Pro. I have an OEM
version of XP home edition on CD that came with my Dell computer and
even though Dell says that this OEM is upgradeable I get an uneasy
feeling from other posts to this newsgroup.

Dell is correct. You can upgrade from (but not to) an OEM
version.

How about this; I still
have the original software to my old computer, Win95 and Win98SE
upgrade. Is Win98SE upgrade eligible software to qualify for an XP
Professional upgrade.

Yes.


I do plan on installing from a clean HDD.

Are you sure you want to do this? Are you aware that XP Home and
Professional are identical except that Professional includes a
few features (mostly related to security and networking) missing
from Home? Most home users don't need and would never use these
extra features and will see no benefits by upgrading.

 

[Ed H]

Are you sure you want to do this? Are you aware that XP Home and
Professional are identical except that Professional includes a
few features (mostly related to security and networking) missing
from Home? Most home users don't need and would never use these
extra features and will see no benefits by upgrading.

I know what you mean, I think it's my desire for all the bells and whistles,
I get crazy that way sometimes.

Ed

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am thinking of upgrading from WinXP Home to Pro. I have an OEM version of
XP home edition on CD that came with my Dell computer and even though Dell
says that this OEM is upgradeable I get an uneasy feeling from other posts
to this newsgroup. How about this; I still have the original software to my
old computer, Win95 and Win98SE upgrade. Is Win98SE upgrade eligible
software to qualify for an XP Professional upgrade.

Yes a 98SE Upgrade CD is fine as evidence.

But think hard before deciding you *need* Pro. See
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp
for the list of things that are in Pro only. In addition Pro will
support ten simultaneous connections in a network - Home only five

If you see no need for any of these Pro only matters, stick to Home.

And then I would do it as an upgrade initially, knowing that you *could*
go back and do a clean install if necessary, using that 98SE disk as the
evidence