XP Pro to XP Home

[Nick]

I have windows xp home upgrade I purchased some time
ago. I current live in Cambodia and got a virus via
email. I took my computer down to the local computer
shop and they installed a bootleg XP pro on my computer.
I don't want that on it but I also don't want to lose all
my data to get back to home. How can I get rid of XP pro
and get my XP home back. Keep in mind it is an upgrade.
Thanks.

Nick

 

[purplehaz]

If they did an upgrade install then goto, control panel, add/remove programs
and remove xp pro. If they did not do a upgrade install then you will have
to format the drive and reinstall xp home losing all data not backed up.

 

[Chris Lanier]

The only way is to format your hard drive and install XP Home.

 

[Steve C. Ray]

Or you could purchase XP Pro, boot from it, do a repair installation, and
insert the Product Key from the legal copy you purchased. This way you
retain your data.

 

[Chris Lanier]

That doesnt really help if he has XP Home already.

 

[Steve C. Ray]

He will retain his data that way (and he said that is what he wants to do)
If he formats all his data is gone. I guess it comes down to how much he
wants his data!

 

[Ron Martell]

I have windows xp home upgrade I purchased some time
ago. I current live in Cambodia and got a virus via
email. I took my computer down to the local computer
shop and they installed a bootleg XP pro on my computer.
I don't want that on it but I also don't want to lose all
my data to get back to home. How can I get rid of XP pro
and get my XP home back. Keep in mind it is an upgrade.
Thanks.

Nick

One option is buying a legit copy of XP Pro and installing that using
the Repair Install procedure.

The only other option is to reformat and reinstall your XP Home on the
empty hard drive. You can use the Files And Settings Transfer Wizard
in XP Pro to save your user data files and configuration settings to
another hard drive partition, a network drive, or a removable backup
device (e.g. CD Burner).

Then when you have installed XP Home and reinstalled the application
programs you can run FASTW again to import the saved data.

See former MVP Gary Woodruff's article on using FASTW at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm


Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."