XP Media center SP2 to XP Pro

[dbfrey]

Hi,

I purchased a new computer with XP Media Center this past week and I'm
trying to install XP Pro. When I put the disk in within XPMC, it says
it's out of date. So if I try to boot up from the CD, it says that it
can't find the hard disk. This is with a fresh install and also
repairing.

So I asked a friend and he mentioned slipstreaming. So I spent a good
3 hours last night downloading, installing, etc, and now my CD Key says
it's invalid. This is because I assume that the key algorithm is
different in SP2 versus regular XP Pro.

I figured I could just download the Hard Drive driver from HP, but I
don't have a floppy disk. I do have a USB key, but I wasn't sure if I
could install those drivers directly through a USB key, or another CD,
or how to make this work.

My XP pro was purchased right when it came out, it's legit, but I don't
want to spend another $200 for a new copy.

 

[smlunatick]

For slipstream, look at Autostreamer to help with this. Also, it would
be possible to add the required drivers for the hard drive controller.

You can not "upgrade" MCE to XP Pro. You must do a clean install (ie:
format the hard drive.)

Yes, you can use a USB key to install driver, in place of floppy
drives. The PC's BIOS must be able to support "legacy" USB floppy/hard
drive access.

Please note: Your new HP is supposed to be "warranted" with Media
Center Edition. Please check with HP, and your documents, so as to see
if the warranty will still be honoured if MCE is not installed.

 

[smlunatick]

BTW: Why do not need to replace Media Center Edition with XP Pro?
Both are "almost" the same with the exception that MCE can not join a
Windows server domain.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I purchased a new computer with XP Media Center this past week and
I'm trying to install XP Pro. When I put the disk in within XPMC,
it says it's out of date. So if I try to boot up from the CD, it
says that it can't find the hard disk. This is with a fresh
install and also repairing.

So I asked a friend and he mentioned slipstreaming. So I spent a
good 3 hours last night downloading, installing, etc, and now my CD
Key says it's invalid. This is because I assume that the key
algorithm is different in SP2 versus regular XP Pro.

I figured I could just download the Hard Drive driver from HP, but I
don't have a floppy disk. I do have a USB key, but I wasn't sure
if I could install those drivers directly through a USB key, or
another CD, or how to make this work.

My XP pro was purchased right when it came out, it's legit, but I
don't want to spend another $200 for a new copy.

Media Center Edition is Windows XP Professional without the ability to join
a domain and with the Media Center additives. (Essentially.)

There is no upgrade path from Media Center to Windows XP Professional.

Windows XP supported upgrade paths
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292607

The part relevant is, "Windows XP Media Center Edition - Note Windows Setup
gives an error message that the Product Key is not valid (invalid) if you
attempt an upgrade or repair the installation with Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition or with Microsoft Windows XP Professional."

In other words - if you plan to slide over to Windows XP Professional
(adding the Join a Domain feature and losing the Media Center components)
- then you can expect having to do a clean install of everything.

You will lose anything you do not backup.
You will lose all applications you do not have the proper installation media
and product keys for.

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Consider carefully what you plan on gaining by making the slide over to
Windows XP Professional from Windows XP Media Center Edition. Do you need
the ability to join a domain? You do not gain (as you already have) the
ability to use Remote Desktop and do some of the other little things that
distinguish Windows XP Professional from Windows XP Home Edition. Of
course - you could just hate the extraneous bells and whistles...

 

[dbfrey]

Yea, I guess Media center wont work on the domain I'm trying to join.
I don't care about any upgrade, I'm all for a clean install.

I do MS development work, Visual Studio, etc, so it's not really a
choice, it's a requirement. I thought too that I could just use media
center and install all the necessary IIS type, but the NT networking is
required.

 

[dbfrey]

Also, it would be possible to add the required drivers for the hard drive controller.

See, this is what my next approach should be. Since I'm creating a new
bootable CD, maybe I could copy these drivers to the XP Pro CD. Is
there a place it would find it automatically so I don't have to hit the
F6 or whatever to install those drivers?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I purchased a new computer with XP Media Center this past week and
I'm trying to install XP Pro. When I put the disk in within XPMC,
it says it's out of date. So if I try to boot up from the CD, it
says that it can't find the hard disk. This is with a fresh
install and also repairing.

So I asked a friend and he mentioned slipstreaming. So I spent a
good 3 hours last night downloading, installing, etc, and now my CD
Key says it's invalid. This is because I assume that the key
algorithm is different in SP2 versus regular XP Pro.

I figured I could just download the Hard Drive driver from HP, but I
don't have a floppy disk. I do have a USB key, but I wasn't sure
if I could install those drivers directly through a USB key, or
another CD, or how to make this work.

My XP pro was purchased right when it came out, it's legit, but I
don't want to spend another $200 for a new copy.

Also, it would be possible to add the required drivers for the
hard drive controller.

See, this is what my next approach should be. Since I'm creating a
new bootable CD, maybe I could copy these drivers to the XP Pro CD.
Is there a place it would find it automatically so I don't have to
hit the F6 or whatever to install those drivers?

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/36/SESSID=d6c27cab127766402caf3a9d0d8238f4/

 

[smlunatick]

NO, Media Center will not join a domain! It will only join a domain at
the fresh (aka clean) installation time only. You can not change
domains ever after that.

Yea, I guess Media center wont work on the domain I'm trying to join.
I don't care about any upgrade, I'm all for a clean install.

I do MS development work, Visual Studio, etc, so it's not really a
choice, it's a requirement. I thought too that I could just use media
center and install all the necessary IIS type, but the NT networking is
required.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I purchased a new computer with XP Media Center this past week and I'm
trying to install XP Pro.

That's a downgrade and can't be done. The only way to do this is by doing a
clean installation.

Why do you want to do this? Are you aware that MCE is a superset of XP
Professional. It has everything in XP Professional (*except* the ability to
join a domain) plus its extra media features. Unless you need to join a
domain (and *very* few home users do) there's no possible advantage to doing
this.

When I put the disk in within XPMC, it says
it's out of date. So if I try to boot up from the CD, it says that it
can't find the hard disk. This is with a fresh install and also
repairing.

If you want to fo a clean installation, just boot from the Windows XP CD
(change the BIOS boot order if necessary to accomplish this) and follow the
prompts for a clean installation (delete the existing partition by pressing
"D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

So I asked a friend and he mentioned slipstreaming.

Slipstreaming SP2? That's not necessary to do a clean installation

So I spent a good
3 hours last night downloading, installing, etc, and now my CD Key
says it's invalid. This is because I assume that the key algorithm is
different in SP2 versus regular XP Pro.

No.


I figured I could just download the Hard Drive driver from HP, but I
don't have a floppy disk.

Is this a SATA drive? Yes SATA drivers have to be installed, usually from a
diskette. However read here:
http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/36/

I do have a USB key, but I wasn't sure if I
could install those drivers directly through a USB key, or another CD,
or how to make this work.

My XP pro was purchased right when it came out, it's legit, but I
don't want to spend another $200 for a new copy.

You don't need to and shouldn't.

 

[dbfrey]

You hit everything on the head. I had no idea that Media Center was an
upgrade. I went to best buy and purchased the $200 Update disk as
advised by the idiots there. Well, it of course didn't work. So I
called Microsoft and they will let me refund it. So I was still stuck,
until I found the SATA setting in the bios. I was unable to install
the HD driver since I didn't have a floppy, but this simply fixed my
problem.

The reason why I had to have XP Pro is to join a domain. That's the
only reason, which has set me back a good 3 days.

So as of last night, I was up and going, without using the $200 I
spent, it was simply a stupid bios setting.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Glad you've got it going and sorry to hear that you wasted the $200.

For future reference, and for anyone else who reads here, Best Buy, CompUSA,
Circuit City, and all similar large electronics stores are usually the worst
possible places to get technical information. Most of the sales people at
these stores are hired for their willingness to accept minimum wage (or
close to it), not for their technical skills. That of course doesn't mean
that no employee of such a store knows anything, but it certainly means that
few of them do.

 

[smlunatick]

Yeah! Some "other" big box stores only pay the sales persons on
"commission" and not salary.

Commission= % for total sales that the person made during the alloted
time.

 

[dbfrey]

I was wrong to assume that an Upgrade would work. I don't understand
why microsoft would make you pay $300 + the OEM Media Center to get to
Pro, even when Pro is a downgrade according to them.

But I actually got a call from my new employer who is requiring pro and
we're just going to create an image to work off of, plus they fixed the
issues with media center on their network. The new developers had the
same issues, but it's all worked out. I can get a refund and restore
to the HP software, plus all the stupid Vongo trial crap I'll have to
uninstall.

Microsoft went a few levels down on this, but at least I believe their
security is working great and did in this case 100%.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I was wrong to assume that an Upgrade would work. I don't
understand why microsoft would make you pay $300 + the OEM Media
Center to get to Pro, even when Pro is a downgrade according to
them.

But I actually got a call from my new employer who is requiring pro
and we're just going to create an image to work off of, plus they
fixed the issues with media center on their network. The new
developers had the same issues, but it's all worked out. I can get
a refund and restore to the HP software, plus all the stupid Vongo
trial crap I'll have to uninstall.

Microsoft went a few levels down on this, but at least I believe
their security is working great and did in this case 100%.

I don't know (nor have been able to find) anything that says Windows XP
Media Center is any more or less than Windows XP Professional.
I think that it is more of a slide-over from Windows XP Professional or
vice-versa.

I think this is an argument of semantics.
Microsoft solved that argument by making Media Center Edition only an OEM
product (cannot *upgrade* with it) and publishing this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292607

Where they state, "Windows XP Media Center Edition: Note - Windows Setup
gives an error message that the Product Key is not valid (invalid) if you
attempt an upgrade or repair the installation with Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition or with Microsoft Windows XP Professional."


It is an 'upgrade' in ones mind (from MCE to Pro) if they need to be able to
join a domain (most people don't actually need to JOIN a domain in order to
use its resources - they just need to have a user account on said domain.)

It is an 'upgrade' in ones mind (from Pro to MCE) if they need the Media
Center Edition components. You still get IIS, Remote Desktop, etc. You
just can only join a domain at initial install.

It is a 'downgrade' in ones mind (either direction) if they need to join a
domain but also need/desire the Media Center Components (and they don't want
to do a fresh install to join the domain.)

I liked MCE 2004 - which truly was a superset of Windows XP Professional and
could join to a domain after installation, etc.
Microsoft decided that feature was not needed in an OS marketed towards
end-consumers; I suppose.

In any case - I think things are drifting (in some areas of the world)
towards people running their own domains at home - to control all the
computers in their household, etc. So soon - maybe all OSes will be able to
join domains. heh

 

[miss-information]

I don't understand why you just don't boot into XP Pro. MCE 05' is XP Pro
with a multi-media wrapper. I set the boot on my laptop to XP Pro for day to
day use. I keep a MCE shortcut on the desktop. When I feel the need, which
is seldom, I switch desktops using the shortcut. The change is
instantaneous, no restart is needed.

mi

 

[miss-information]

I should have stated this differently. The OS is MCE. When I say I boot into
WinXP Pro I mean the XP Pro like GUI, same as with the MCE GUI. They are two
distinct interfaces.

mi

 

[Ron Sommer]

This program will help uninstall all the crap.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5223.html
--
Ronald Sommer

:I was wrong to assume that an Upgrade would work. I don't understand
: why microsoft would make you pay $300 + the OEM Media Center to get to
: Pro, even when Pro is a downgrade according to them.
:
: But I actually got a call from my new employer who is requiring pro and
: we're just going to create an image to work off of, plus they fixed the
: issues with media center on their network. The new developers had the
: same issues, but it's all worked out. I can get a refund and restore
: to the HP software, plus all the stupid Vongo trial crap I'll have to
: uninstall.
:
: Microsoft went a few levels down on this, but at least I believe their
: security is working great and did in this case 100%.
:

 

[Shenan Stanley]

It's disabled NT Networking, not just joining a domain. it's
deeper. Apps work differently, settings in the registry differ-
the UI is entertainment oriented, not work oriented; look over the
posts of the past year- this question of getting away from the MC
metaphore to the XPP work space is continual and the only answer
the "MVP"s choose to come up with is "unless you need to join a
domain...". Bull. We need to not have the poorly designed MC
setup, we need printer and file sharing, we needed an XPP version,
not a jukebox.

Well - other than pointing out I know of XP MCE's happily sharing files and
printers *right now* without problems - as well as mapping shared resources
in and out of domains (since your computer need not be a member of most
domains to access its shared resources...) - all I can say is...

Buy what you need. If you buy anything less - that's your bad...