XP HOME TO XP PRO

[michelle]

I've received conflicting information. One person at a
computer sales site told me that you cannot upgrade from
xp home to xp pro. He said it would damage the hard drive
and the system wouldn't run properly. The Windows website
stated that you can. Was he just trying to sell me the
more expensive full installation or have there been
documented cases of system crashes following the upgrade?
M.

 

[Norm]

Point the salesman to this site and then ask him why he wants to sell you
the full version:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/matrix.asp

 

[Wesley]

Its the smoothest upgrade you can do. However if you
have an OEM version (meaning it came with your computer)
you will have to buy the full installation cd. If not
all will go well with an upgrade cd

--But heck what do I know I'm just 15--

 

[John Ski]

I've received conflicting information. One person at a

computer sales site told me that you cannot upgrade from
xp home to xp pro. He said it would damage the hard drive
and the system wouldn't run properly. The Windows website
stated that you can. Was he just trying to sell me the
more expensive full installation or have there been
documented cases of system crashes following the upgrade?
M.

Did that person walk over from the large appliance dept. to help you? Of
course you can upgrade Home to Pro. As with any situation involving a major
upgrade, you should run chkdsk, defrag, and back up anything you can't afford
to lose..."just in case". A more important question is do you really need XP
Pro. A quick Google on the subject will provide you with far more info than you
need to make an informed decision.

HTH,
John
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
***Arthur C. Clarke***

 

[John McGaw]

I've received conflicting information. One person at a
computer sales site told me that you cannot upgrade from
xp home to xp pro. He said it would damage the hard drive
and the system wouldn't run properly. The Windows website
stated that you can. Was he just trying to sell me the
more expensive full installation or have there been
documented cases of system crashes following the upgrade?
M.

Yes you can. I've done it to the systems belonging to several friends and
relatives and it is quite easy and painless -- probably the most
straightforward upgrade I've done. To give the person at the computer sales
site the benefit of the doubt, (s)he might simply by incredibly ignorant
rather than simply greedy.

As for documented cases of system crashes after the HOME -> PRO upgrade,
well you can probably find documented cases of almost anything if you look
hard enough. Example: "yes, right at the height of the full moon lightning
struck that big ole' sycamore down by the crick and the very next day
grandma died". Systems have probably died right after such an upgrade but
they have also died right after somebody replaced the power cord too. Just
because two events occurred sequentially does not suggest in any way that
the first caused the second. I've never heard of anybody claiming that the
upgrade caused a problem in itself.

Of course all of this begs the question: do you really NEED to have PRO?
Most people don't. I've only ever recommended it when somebody needed the
improved networking capability or improved data security.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

Return address will not work. Please
reply in group or through my website:
http://johnmcgaw.com

 

[mcheu]

I've received conflicting information. One person at a
computer sales site told me that you cannot upgrade from
xp home to xp pro. He said it would damage the hard drive
and the system wouldn't run properly. The Windows website
stated that you can. Was he just trying to sell me the
more expensive full installation or have there been
documented cases of system crashes following the upgrade?
M.

There are really only a few differences, so it really isn't worth the
expense for most people.

If you really want to though, the upgrade version of pro will upgrade
you from home to pro.

Have there been any crashes? I'm sure there have been, but it's not
that likely, and if you manage to create an unstable system with the
upgrade, you can probably create an unstable system with the full
version too.

Whether the store clerk was trying to hussle you or not, that's not
for me to say, but he was wrong on this point.

 

[mcheu]

Yes you can. I've done it to the systems belonging to several friends and
relatives and it is quite easy and painless -- probably the most
straightforward upgrade I've done. To give the person at the computer sales
site the benefit of the doubt, (s)he might simply by incredibly ignorant
rather than simply greedy.

"Naive" or perhaps "of limited expertise". The word "ignorant" has
some pretty rude connotations -- though I have encountered store
clerks that could be put in that category.

 

[Michael Stevens]

Its the smoothest upgrade you can do. However if you
have an OEM version (meaning it came with your computer)
you will have to buy the full installation cd. If not
all will go well with an upgrade cd

--But heck what do I know I'm just 15--

The XP Pro upgrade will work fine on the OEM version.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Why would you even consider taking technical advice from a sales
clerk? Of course he/she's going for the bigger profit, and of course
he/she doesn't have a clue about the technical issues involved.

You won't hurt anything upgrading from WinXP Home to WinXP Pro.
However, if you have an OEM installation of WinXP Home, upgrading the
OS may void your warranty. Check with the PC's manufacturer to be
sure.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Alex Nichol]

I've received conflicting information. One person at a
computer sales site told me that you cannot upgrade from
xp home to xp pro. He said it would damage the hard drive
and the system wouldn't run properly.

You can. Offer him a different hat to talk through. The package to use
is the regular Windows XP Pro Upgrade CD, though it does not mention XP
home on the box. The central core of the two is identical, all you are
doing is adding extra facilities.


The one exception is where the machine is on proprietary hardware that
needs a customised version of any system - Compaq especially I would be
wary of

 

[John McGaw]

"Naive" or perhaps "of limited expertise". The word "ignorant" has
some pretty rude connotations -- though I have encountered store
clerks that could be put in that category.

I used the word quite precisely. As the Cambridge Dictionary of American
English puts it: "having no knowledge or awareness of something or of things
in general"