XP Pro Back to XP Home

[Guest]

I'm trying to help and old gentlemen.
He has an HP desktop that came with XP Home.
His grandson who lives with put a bootleg copy of XP Pro on the computer.
My friend is now having problems and messages telling him that the XP pro is
not genuine. Is there a way for him to revert back to XP Home with out
losing all his file and current programs?

 

[DL]

Backup data files - ensure backup is valid!!! -
Clean Install, its the only way, assuming you dont wish to pay and convert
to a genuine XP pro

 

[Malke]

I'm trying to help and old gentlemen.
He has an HP desktop that came with XP Home.
His grandson who lives with put a bootleg copy of XP Pro on the
computer. My friend is now having problems and messages telling him
that the XP pro is
not genuine. Is there a way for him to revert back to XP Home with
out losing all his file and current programs?

No, I'm sorry but there is no way to do what you want. Back up your old
gentleman's data and do a clean install of Windows. Since he has an HP,
the computer will have come with a recovery program to take the machine
back to factory condition. Normally you access this by pressing F10 as
the computer is starting up, but look at the splash screen or refer to
HP's tech support site for that specific model machine to be sure.

If the grandson completely wiped the hard drive and destroyed the
partition which held the recovery images, then contact HP and have them
send the recovery cd's. It will cost around $25 (at least here in the
US).

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm trying to help and old gentlemen.
He has an HP desktop that came with XP Home.
His grandson who lives with put a bootleg copy of XP Pro on the
computer. My friend is now having problems and messages telling him
that the XP pro is not genuine. Is there a way for him to revert
back to XP Home with out losing all his file and current programs?

Sorry, no. Downgrades are never supported and all he can do is back up his
data, reinstall XP Home cleanly, then reload his backups and reinstall all
his programs.

 

[AJR]

Another option (saves data and programs) is to take advantage of Microsoft's
offer to validate the bogus installation. During so will cost the old
Gentleman $159 - but he will get a key to validate the bogus installation
and a XP Pro CD with it's key.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm trying to help and old gentlemen.
He has an HP desktop that came with XP Home.
His grandson who lives with put a bootleg copy of XP Pro on the computer.
My friend is now having problems and messages telling him that the XP pro is
not genuine. Is there a way for him to revert back to XP Home with out
losing all his file and current programs?

I'm afraid not. The only way to change from WinXP Pro to WinXP Home
is to format the drive and start over. There is no supported downgrade
path or technique.

After backing up any data you wish to transfer to the new OS
installation,, simply boot from the WinXP Home installation CD. You'll
be offered the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as
part of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order
of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

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

Then the backed up data can be restored and applications re-installed.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell