John said:
Do you lose anything relative to Win XP Pro SP2 ?
I know you gain a lot ... but do you lose anything ?
In other words , is Media Center an enhanced version of XP Pro ?
Jason said:
You lose support for domain join and cached credentials. Everything else
is the same.
You're kidding me? You can't join domains? You can only log-on
locally?
Is there an alternate way to gain the XPMC05 functionality ?
What do you *think* you need this system to be on a domain for?
You cannot join your computer to a domain in Windows XP Media Center Edition
2005
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887212
Previous versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition support joining a
domain, but Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 does NOT.
To share Media Center content with other locations in the home, you must use
Media Center Extender devices, which require concurrent connections, only
available by using Fast User Switching. This requirement precludes the
ability to join a domain.
** If your previous Windows XP Media Center Edition was joined to a domain,
the domain status and credentials will be retained when you upgrade to
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. If you subsequently remove the
computer from the domain, to enable Fast User Switching required by a Media
Center Extender, you cannot rejoin the domain.
** You can still use domain resources if the shared resources do not require
that your computer is joined to the domain.
Side Notes..
----
Are there hacks out there to allow your MCE to join a domain?
Yes.
Do they work?
Supposedly..
What do you lose by joining and staying in a domain?
Access to the Media Center Extenders.
Are there people who claim to have put together "patches" to give you
Windows XP MCE features?
Yes.
Do they work?
I wold say supposedly - but the people who have claimed to use them have
been less than thrilled.